A study in Journal of the American Dental Association found that people with disabilities reported a higher rate of dental diseases than the general population.
Here are a few reasons why, according to a NPR feature:
1. Many people with disabilities are insured through Medicaid, which does not always pay for dental care. When it does cover dental care, it is often with low reimbursement rates.
2. There are some dental practices, like Wisconsin-based Marshfield Clinic, who accept underinsured and uninsured patients. Three of the clinic's 50 locations that specialize in dental care for patients with disabilities see more than 1,700 patients with disabilities a year.
3. Even for patients with adequate insurance, finding a dentist willing to treat patients with disabilities can be difficult — for example, NPR notes that "patients with autism may be afraid of lights, sounds or touch" and "some with physical disabilities may be unable to hold their head in place."
4. NPR gives the example of Kathy Falk, a 16-year-old with Rett syndrome who uses a wheelchair and cannot speak. Ms. Falk's parents lift her from her wheelchair to the dental chair and the dentist at Marshfield Clinic provides sunglasses to block overhead light, while also narrating the cleaning for encouragement.
5. For more intensive services, like fillings or root canals, Marshfield Clinic brings patients to a nearby hospital to undergo the procedure with anesthesia.