Sally's World

Special dentist

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday. I told her that I had to take Deion to the dentist again, and I think I was having a bit of a moan about the distance we have to travel, and the waiting… she asked me why I went there and not somewhere closer or less busy, she even told me about her own dentist..."Is there stairs?" I asked. "Oh, yeah, there's tons actually," she said. (most the dentists in our area have stairs).

So I explained to her how all the kids with special needs had to go to this particular dentist, it's the special needs dentist for our borough.

She was shocked…of course she had no idea that kids like Deion need special dentists.

I guess most people don’t.

But most dentist offices aren’t accessible for wheelchairs, and of course Deion needs to stay in his wheelchair for treatment, its not like the average dentist office is equipped with ceiling track hoists. And there's the issue of being sensitive to a child's needs, whatever they are, behavioural, social, physical.

We had terrible trouble getting Deions elder brother, Aaron to the dentist, he didn't mind going, he even liked the equipment and the chair, but he also liked to bite...so after almost losing a finger or two a few times, the dentist decided it was safer to knock him out. I don't mean hit him over the head with a mallet or anything (although the dentist with the bleeding fingers may have been tempted) but he had to go under anaesthetic for any treatment.

I guess this is just one more thing I've got used to and think nothing of, one more thing that other people don't realise.