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smb660

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Any advice on choosing schools that have programs with direct attention to the older adult, physically and mentally challenged and/or complex medical histories?
 
Special needs training is also found in peds residency, so consider that if you are interested. In one of the offices I worked in prior to dental school we exclusively saw patients with developmental disabilities. Incredibly challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. That group of people tends to be very underserved. Good luck.
 
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This is a great question. Volunteering with special needs and working directly with them is extremely challenging. I can only imagine how MUCH MORE challenging it would be to do this as a dentist. It's good to know that some programs do focus on this training. You definitely need some sort of training. But then again, experience is the best teacher for training so there's that too.