A Systematic Approach to Creating a Dental Home for Children with Medical Complexities

Children with complex medical needs with at least one chronic condition resulting in increased utilization of health services including medications, devices, and specialized equipment are the subject of this chapter. This group of medically fragile children with concentrated health-care needs has been termed children with medical complexities, or CMC. A common theme voiced by parents of CMC is their desire to find dental providers who offer careful and appropriate treatment without creating dental fear. They want their child to enjoy clean and healthy teeth like any other child. Like all children, CMC benefit from dental homes that are medically appropriate and family-friendly. Our role is to collaborate with the child’s family and medical team to support quality of life and to prevent oral problems or treatment of oral conditions from negatively affecting the child’s health, well-being, or medical stability. Taking an individualized strength-based approach to CMC offers the safest foundation for the provision of care. This chapter offers a systematic approach to establishing family-oriented, comprehensive, coordinated, and safe delivery of dental care for CMC and identifies components of the typical dental visit that can be modified to match patient strengths.