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Premier HealthCare Dental staff volunteered on December 3 at the Peter Aquilone Floor Hockey Winter Classic, an annual event hosted by Special Olympics New York at the Javits Center. The team of dentists and a hygienist provided free onsite dental screenings as part of the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program.
Premier staff were among other healthcare workers at the event raising awareness for the importance of dental hygiene in the I/DD community.
“It’s crucial to have this awareness in the community so people with disabilities know they don’t have to be put to sleep to get dental work done,” said Dr. Anna Viron, Chief of Dentistry at Premier HealthCare. “They can go to facilities like ours that have specialized dental professionals who are equipped to handle their specific needs and who have gone through sensitivity training."
Premier’s one-of-a-kind desensitization program helps tackle the fear many with I/DD have of going to the dentist by introducing patients to dental care using a gradual approach that helps to increase comfort and cooperation during in-office visits.
This was the first time that Premier was part of the event and staff provided athletes with dental screenings, fluoride treatments, and mouth guards.
“When I was in dental school, we had no training or exposure in treating people with I/DD,” said Viron. “In recent years, all dental schools in the United States revamped their curricula and training programs to include patients with I/DD. Students now have exposure to this patient population and that’s beautiful and so necessary...a lot of people with I/DD used to not get proper dental care because of the lack of education amongst healthcare providers and lack of accessibility."