Speaker 0 00:00:01 Hey dot, Do
Speaker 2 00:00:57 And welcome. This is K f e 90.3 fm, Minneapolis and kfa i.org. You're listening to Disability and Progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about, and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam, I'm the host of the show, Charlene Dolls, my research team, Miguel Vargas is my engineer tonight. And also Erin, we DOP will be podcasting this after we are speaking with a team of that collaborates to provide in-hospital dental work to people with disabilities. And that would be Dr. Dwight McLeod and Dr. Paul. Big good evening, guys.
Speaker 3 00:01:39 Good evening, Sam and Charlene, I think.
Speaker 2 00:01:42 Thank you so much for joining. We really appreciate that. Um, before we get really into the meat of the conversation, can you give us a little bit of history about each of you and, um, how you kind of got to where you are in your life?
Speaker 3 00:02:02 Sam, I'll go ahead and start it. This is Dr. Dwy cloud. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:02:06 <affirmative>
Speaker 3 00:02:06 And I have been in dental academia since 1995. I've served in various capacity, Traverse <inaudible> from assistant professor, the full professor, department chair, and now I'm serving as dean at, at still University of Missouri School of Dentist Oral Health. Have where I've been in this position for, um, the past seven years or so. Uh, started in 2016, so in July of, um, 2023, I, I'll be finishing my seventh year.
Speaker 2 00:02:40 Wow.
Speaker 3 00:02:42 And in addition to that, I'm originally from Jamaica and,
Speaker 2 00:02:46 And
Speaker 3 00:02:47 I also Nice. I'm the director and founder of the Jamaica Mission, uh, uh, service that I've provided since 2000. And there was a hiatus due to 2020 through 2021. And we resume activities again this past July where we treat underserved children and adults in Western Jamaica.
Speaker 4 00:03:11 And then, um, I'm Dr. Paul Big. Um, I was born, raised in St. Louis. I had, um, I was born with a club, lip and club palette. So growing up I had some difficulties on my own. Um, and I went through, um, Washington University, St. Louis Children's team, uh, where I got the care I needed and I wanted to give back to, to people who have, um, disabilities similar to my own. Um, I went and got a dental degree at Case Western Reserve University. Um, got trained in special needs adult dentistry because, and adolescents because, um, while there's many providers who do pediatric care, um, there are a few who do adult, um, care for these patients. And so I wanted to help those people out. And so I got that train As I was coming back to Missouri, um, I reached out to the school asking what could I do to help. And before I knew it, they were asking me to come on board and be a part of their team. And I've been forever grateful to be a part of Atsu Missouri School of Dentistry and All Health as a director of Special Needs Dentistry.
Speaker 2 00:04:25 Thank you. Yeah. I think you two are like just part of the team. Right. And, um, talk about a little bit about how this idea of providing in hospital dental work to people with disabilities came about.
Speaker 3 00:04:40 So this idea came about as a need to address the community that we serve. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> at still University Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health is a socially responsible institution. We have a very strong osteopathic heritage. Our found, our founding school being at still university, the founder of Osteopathic Medicine that's based in Kirksville, uh, Missouri. And ATS L University is truly a graduate health science university with two dental schools, two medical schools of which one is the founding institution, Kirksville College, Pathic Medicine. And then we have two graduate health science schools, One traditional and one online. And then we have a seventh school that's based in California colleges of healthy communities. So we have three campuses. We are based in Missouri, California, and Arizona. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So at university, the Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health is based in Kirksville and in St.
Speaker 3 00:05:51 Louis, the first two years of dental school is done in Kirksville, Those other preclinical years. And then the clinical years for the last two years, that would be for the D three and D four dental students. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, those years are done here in St. Louis. So we have a social responsibility to address the needs within our community. We have the key for access to oral healthcare. We serve disadvantaged populations, and we want the St. Louis Dental Center, which is a partnership between Opinion Healthcare, a federally qualified health center, and atc, University of Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health to be the home for all patients within our community. And this idea came about, we know that individuals with special needs and children are two of the most neglected populations within society. And that there's a great need for dental care within those populations. And we want our students to be competent and confident in treating patients from all segments, including children and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And that's my pledge, that I want them to be competent. I care about these groups of patients, and I want to make sure that they have access to care because they feel pain and they truly should be given the opportunity to seek care.
Speaker 2 00:07:28 I really like that. Um, when I was going through your info, it, you know, I I was kind of, was an interesting statement that was made that, um, patients with special needs who need emergency or basic care often can't get it, um, from dental offices. And I'm wondering why is this like, aren't dental's offices required to serve everyone?
Speaker 3 00:07:55 And that's an important point that you brought up. And I, I think that as dentists, we are trained to treat a variety of different diseases on conditions. However, I think where the disconnect is sometimes is that how do we treat patients with special needs and are offices equipped to accommodate patients with special needs? And also do the practitioners feel competent and confident in managing those cases. So I think there are a variety of reasons that are involved in the lack of access to care for patients with special needs. Number one, as I said, the environment might not be conducive. Some offices may require special equipment to accommodate patients. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> special needs. Some practitioners may not feel very comfortable in treating, um, these patients. And then also the economical piece that is tied to it, it does take a lot longer to treat a patient with special needs to be able to accommodate the needs of that particular patient and to be able to make sure that that patient is receiving the care.
Speaker 3 00:09:10 And then when you look at remuneration it, because it takes a longer time to treat one patient, sometimes a practitioner could treat maybe three or four or five patients within a time. So the economics to that practitioner may not make sense. And that's why access to care, I think is so difficult and so challenging. And then also sometimes there are patients with special needs that may need to be sedated and that practitioner may not feel very comfortable in, in administrate in administering sedation. In addition, it may require a caretaker to come in and assist and it may, a person's office may not be large enough to accommodate several people in the operating area. And also the behavioral problems of some patients with special needs because of that's just the way they function may require a special care. So a variety of reasons that really do create a significant barrier to access to care. And we know that these are patients that suffer from pain and dental neglect. And we want to make a significant difference in impacting the room in the St. Louis area where we have over about a half a million or 500,000 patients with some type of stability.
Speaker 2 00:10:37 You know, I, I wanna give people an idea because I know I, I work for the disability community and I teach, and to me a special need is like making sure somebody gets the right equipment to take notes in class or, you know, something like that. But for you, a special need of a patient might be much different. Like a special needs patient would be considered somebody who comes in who has what.
Speaker 4 00:11:06 So, um, it could be a variety of reasons. Um, sometimes they have autism, sometimes they have down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy. So some patients have a difficulty keeping their mouth open. Um, some have trouble with, you know, the numbing process. And so being able to, you know, calm them through that some people do need some extra medicine or some nitrous to help them get through that appointment. Then there's some who are. So, um, they have such a great need that, you know, they're not, they have a adverse, you know, they're sensitive to touch. They're sensitive to,
Speaker 2 00:11:46 Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4 00:11:47 Um, you know, like the feeling area that we can't, we can barely take a look, um, in their mouth to make sure that there's nothing going on that could be of urgent need. And that's where, uh, we do have that, that partnership with Washington University and Barnes Jewish to be able to give that character people, especially for those who don't have the ability to sit a chair and let us even take a look with our mirror, with our hands, seeing what's going on in their mouth.
Speaker 2 00:12:22 Great. We need to take a short, um, station break and we'll be right back.
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Speaker 2 00:13:07 And this is KFI 90.3 fm, minneapolis and kfi.org. This is Disability and Progress. My name is Sam, I'm speaking with Dr. Dwight McLeod and Dr. Paul Big. We're talking about, um, that people that collaborate to provide in-hospital care for, uh, dental work anyway to people with disabilities. And I, um, I'm wondering if you could give us an idea of what kind of, you know, I know you have probably some special equipment that maybe some dental offices or maybe a lot of them don't have. Like, what would that be?
Speaker 4 00:13:43 So, some special equipment that, um, we have would include various forms of mouth props. So like a way to like keep the mouth open, so that's like a mouth rest. Um-huh. We also have, um, a bariatric chair where we can take the person back in who's doesn't have a motorized, um, wheelchair. Um, put them up into that facilitate so that they can be raised at be seen. Whereas, you know, in a normal wheelchair scenario where it doesn't have a mower, um, that allows them to, um, get a better exam than what otherwise would be allowed.
Speaker 2 00:14:26 Ah, okay. Um, so you talked earlier about some training that you kind of went through, especially I think you Dr. Big, you kind of talked about that too. Um, and pertaining to skills that would help you require, you know, deal with people with disabilities, what were some of the special training that you felt like you had to get for that?
Speaker 4 00:15:01 I think the biggest training with this is staying more exposure, getting involved with train a variety of patients. Um, I got trained with all sorts of conditions, some of them being so rare that we have to look up and see, okay, what is this genetic anomaly that's 1 million and it's being more exposed to it, Uh, being involved in hospital dentistry more. I, for two years I was up in bunk, well, I did a general practice residency within a focus in special needs dentistry. And we went through and learned all sorts of training about, you know, who do you take to the operating room? Who do you not, what do you do for patients with autism and the severity they have, What do we do about patient who is otherwise very cooperative? And there's a variety of just techniques to go through in terms of talking to patient through comforting them and then being able to assess what, who needs to be seen to the hospital, who needs maybe an ang seal leg, something to calm them down with the, um, the primary care physician and who is doing just fine. But it's just the way we talk with them will be the way that we get them through the appointment. So it's about a lot of patient management.
Speaker 2 00:16:28 And, and, um, this is partly a, a dental school, right?
Speaker 3 00:16:35 Yes. This a dental school
Speaker 2 00:16:38 You'll, so you'll train students, presumably you will kind of train them in regards to some of these different disabilities and dealing with these disabilities and, and how to best act with the patient or interact with the patient?
Speaker 3 00:16:55 That's correct. We have a robust curriculum involving treatment of patients with special needs. And then we also have clinical exposure. We have a, a special needs rotation of which Dr. Paul, Dick is the special care unit director. And the whole goal is to ensure that our students have the exposure to treat a variety of, uh, special needs or, and also that they feel competent and confident to be able to address the needs to assess and manage the treatment of, uh, patients the special needs until when they go out there as private practitioner, that they will enable access to care.
Speaker 2 00:17:39 Mm. Yes.
Speaker 3 00:17:39 That they'll either perform the care themselves or they will refer the patients to someone in that community that can, that can enable that particular patient with special needs to be able to be treated and have a dental home.
Speaker 2 00:18:01 Now I know that you guys have a whole way of dealing with, um, financial stuff, but I, and we'll get to that, but in, in the community and, and other places, do you find, or have you heard that, do they tend to charge more for people with special needs that need, you know, over and above the quote normal thing?
Speaker 3 00:18:26 I think when we look at the spectrum of the, of, or the severity of individuals with special needs, I, I think we have to make clear that there are some patients with very mild treatment
Speaker 3 00:18:39 Needs that can be accommodated in a regular dental setting. And then as a severity gets worse. And I think that's the topic of discussion this evening, then those individuals would require general anesthesia to be treated. And that's the group of patients that we have identified and that we're working with through this four way agreement with Barnes Jewish Hospital, Afinia Healthcare, Washington University School of Medicine, and 80 Study University, the Missouri School of <inaudible> Oral Health. So this is really a groundbreaking agreement between four outstanding institutions that are socially responsible that came together to make this particular agreement possible and to create the access to care within our community for, uh, uh, this particular group of patients. And we continue to make really good progress in the treatment that we're providing. But again, these are patients that we would not be otherwise able to accommodate within the dental school clinic here at 1500 Park Avenue in St. Louis. Are we doing additional care for other patients with, um, lesser or less severe conditions? Yes. The students get great exposure under the supervision of Dr. Big to be able to provide care, whether it be for, um, the patient with autism that is mild or the patient with Down syndrome that is mild. So great exposure, I, I think altogether, and we'll continue to do that.
Speaker 2 00:20:30 And when you talk about disabilities, one of the things that I think happens a lot in disability, um, with various ones and certainly not all, is, uh, communication. And I think communication can sometimes be a difficult thing. How do you guys deal with disabilities that may, that communication may be a factor in that?
Speaker 4 00:20:54 I think the most important thing is to be patient and to hear the person and let them talk. And, you know, certain patients with cerebral palsy comes to mind with communication issues that, um, they're, they know what they're wanna say, they have it in them. I think it's more of a lower dysfunction that they're facing. And so giving that patient and just letting that person speak what they need to speak, and if, you know, you just listen and hear them. And sometimes they're with caregivers who also help out with that communication aspect. So it's a matter of being patient with them. For sure.
Speaker 2 00:21:42 And you were talking about, and, um, clarify for me, because you were talking about the differences for patients in wheelchairs of electric and non-electric wheelchairs. What are the different things that you have to do with that?
Speaker 4 00:21:55 So with electric, uh, the beauty above electric wheelchairs that they have a remote control system that allows them to push back and be able to requiring an
Speaker 2 00:22:09 Oh, that's
Speaker 4 00:22:10 Chair versus a manual wheelchair. Right? You are, uh, you don't have that accessibility, it's not big to the person. So then they have to, you know, they might have sores, it could be right. It's one of those like temporary things, whereas the electric one, they're groundbreaking in terms of being able to have patients who have these disabilities in a, you know, a quadriplegic or, you know, just unable to walk situation.
Speaker 2 00:22:40 Let's talk a little bit about, um, how is transportation done when people are coming to your place? I, I presume now that you're starting to advertise a lot that, or have these interviews that people might be coming from on all over. So are there any assistance with transportation to get to the center? Yes.
Speaker 3 00:23:02 I, I believe so. That transportation is not arranged through the dental school or the St. Louis Dental Center, but it's arranged through maybe assisted living facility or caretaker or family member mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But, and we have been actually seeing patients with special needs since 2016. We started out very slowly mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and we actually progressed along the way where we're now able through this groundbreaking agreement, be able to treat the patients that we're not able to see within the St. Louis Center because we couldn't accommodate them. And I can tell you in terms of the access, I know your question involves transportation, but I, I thought I would mention this because prior to this agreement and to us opening up the St. Louis Dental Center in 2015 mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the nearest public private institution that was able to take care of these patients was approximately, um, four hours away or 250 miles on the eastern side of Missouri and Kansas City. Wow. So this agreement creates a great access to care for individuals in eastern Missouri. It's really unprecedented. And, um, it's such a, a great addition to help individuals with special needs because number one, it saves them money to drive all the way to Kansas City, 250 miles approximately four hours away, or four and a half hours away.
Speaker 2 00:24:47 Right. And,
Speaker 3 00:24:49 And it's, it's, it's right here in St. Louis. So it's easier for follow up care, um, not a for drive to here in downtown St. Louis. And it, it's just a great opportunity across the board. And I think it's, it's long overdue. Many patients in the area and organizations have been asking for this. And I, I think this population deserves the treatment access and we're glad that we're able to do that. And we will continue to work with organizations. And I think you mentioned that whether we are getting more people coming to us for care Yes, we are. And very careful in the early days that we didn't set our ambitions too high, our expectations of patients to get inundated the system. So we slowly, gradually open up and we are now advertising and coming in to make sure that people know that we're here and that the disagreement is in place. And we will continue to build momentum, as I said, because we want to be able to address the needs of as many patients who want to come and access care, whether it's within our dental facilities here at 1500 Park Avenue or in the operating room at Barnes Jewish Hospital.
Speaker 2 00:26:12 So how many patients can you take at a time and how do you decide who gets your services? I presume you must have a waiting list.
Speaker 3 00:26:20 Yes, we do. We do. And I can let Dr. Big talk a little bit about that as well. But we have a, a, a list of patients waiting to be seen at the same was dental center as well as the list of patients waiting to be treated on the general anesthesia. And how this works through the agreement is that two thirds of that, of the month, we have room access at, um, Barnes Jewish Hospital here in St. Louis. And we're able to treat patients. And the whole goal is to make sure that patient is put on the very safely with a very competent, um, team of physicians, nurses, and, um, dental providers working together to support the patient. And we try to do as much treatment as possible while that per person is on the general anesthesia. And we have the capability to do two or three, even four per day. We're trying to make sure we credential as many dental info providers to be able to do that. We want to reduce the list of patients waiting for care. Dr. Bigs, you can add to that.
Speaker 4 00:27:30 Yeah. And
Speaker 3 00:27:31 Thank you, Dr. Big,
Speaker 4 00:27:33 Um, the list, uh, keeps growing. Um, as, especially since we've reached out into the community with the, our, um, recent, um, publication about the joint partnership between the core organizations and, um, the list is growing. We had a, it's growing more. Um, so it's a matter of getting them in and paying on the, how much is involved with the case. Some cases we can do relatively quickly, you know, been blessed to not have as much dental disease on top of everything else they're going through. Um, but some patients have a full set of teeth that need to be treated, 20 fillings of full extraction. It could be a variety of, um, treatment needs and could be quite extensive in terms of how long it takes. And then thus how much, how many cases we can do in they, we're not just gonna do the one filling and say, Oh, come back next time for the other treatment.
Speaker 4 00:28:35 We gotta take care of everything, every single thing that they need that we can get that disease out of, um, their mouth, the cavities, um, sort of periodontal disease, you know, try to treat that as best as we can too. And, um, if there's any sort of other suspicious, you know, let's say we've found a pathological condition, we want take a tissue sample, I've done that before too, um mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, you know, all, everything that a person would knee in the chair getting it done all at once. So it could be quite extensive. And it's really rewarding to be able to help someone go from a bunch of teeth that are broken down to a healthy mouth. And that's just, I just love that It's absolutely rewarding and I'm grateful to be a part of this joint group to help that in my hometown.
Speaker 3 00:29:30 And if there are some patients that were unable to determine the treatment needs ahead of time, because those patients, their mouths to enable us to examine them or allow us to be able to take radiographs ahead of time. So we are going in and we are for the first time being able to examine the mouth to be able to take radiographs and then to be able to put together a treatment plan that this suits that particular patient and to do as many procedures that we can in terms of eliminating the diseases, whether it be dental decay or per of diseases or other conditions that may present in a particular patient.
Speaker 2 00:30:20 So how did you guys handle this during the pandemic?
Speaker 3 00:30:25 Well, the pandemic actually was very difficult for everyone across the board as, yes, it was as we were aware of. And I think as a social responsible institution, a partnership between HS University and Opinion Healthcare here at the St. Louis Dental Center, we continue to provide access to care for urgent and emergency dental care. So we never closed down our urgent center. We just, um, suspended our comprehensive care Hispanic programs that we have. But access to care for our community was always there. The patients could still show up and have under a, a hopeless tooth extracted or some kind of palliative care given or conditions that they may present, uh, with during the COVID 19 pandemic. Um, this particular agreement was not in place as yet. This came after we came back, which was in June, July of 2020. We resume our routine dental, um, operations here at St.
Speaker 3 00:31:39 Louis Dental Center. So this is, has been ongoing, this four way agree since fall of 2021 mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and eventually it will grow just from where it is right now, into a full blown rotation for students. So students will get to see how patients with special needs are managed in a, in a hospital setting, in an operating room. And they'll have the ability to participate because what we want to do is to increase the dental knowledge through didactic education and clinical education and interprofessional care and activities for students to be able to provide the need for patients with special needs and to feel comfortable treating them. That's the goal is to make sure our graduates feel confident and c in treating with special needs and adults with special needs andro run in general, because we know that children with special needs for up to be adults. Right. And we know that many adults with special needs are even longer now, and we want to be able to address their needs. They, they are subjected to pain, lack of access to care, and we want to change
Speaker 4 00:33:01 That.
Speaker 2 00:33:03 And just so people understand, because it's, it's, I mean, you really are dealing with people who have special needs. I mean, obviously a lot of the disability community could probably walk into most dental offices and be fine, but, um, I'm, I'm still trying to figure out how this works. You walk in and you tell them what, or some, somebody might tell them what you need and they freak out and say, Nope, go to go to these people. We don't, we can't handle that <laugh>. I, it's just kind of, uh, amazing to me. But it sounds like you do some pretty heavy stuff.
Speaker 3 00:33:41 Yeah. So the dental institution. Absolutely. And, and again, as a social responsible institution that's, we're committed to doing that, we're committed to helping our community and to address the needs of all individuals within the community. We want the St. Louis Dental Center to be their home for anyone and everyone who needs a, a dental home.
Speaker 2 00:34:06 So what kind of steps does, um, ensuring does it take to ensure patient's safety then? Can you tell us some of the safety protocols that you might use?
Speaker 4 00:34:17 So, um, I think the first and most important thing is talking with the patient and also with their caregivers to see a story about the patient, like what works for them, what doesn't work, making sure that we know, okay, they're sensitive to touch. Okay. We don't, you know, try and go into their space. And once we have to with the exam, um, making sure that if they are, you know, prone to seizures, they, we make sure that we take the precautions that they don't have any sort of triggers. Um, and really it's about making sure that we hear what the patient, their care team who deals with the patient on a daily basis and stayed and making sure that we not only do that, but then, um, make sure that they're all, we're all together, we're all focused on taking care of the patient and understanding what their needs are and how we need to accommodate our dental treatment or our dental plans to make sure that we give them adequate outstanding care.
Speaker 3 00:35:28 And I could even add a little bit more to that as well. I think the whole idea of this agreement, I think there was a lot that went into how it's being developed. And I can tell you that Barn Jewish hospital has put a lot of time and effort in bringing in their teams. Sometimes they were probably about 12 or 15 different teams that came together to be able to figure out how this is going to work, how it's going to be done. And we met for several times. Uh, this is an agreement that took over three years to develop. Wow. And, uh, so a lot of time was spent in, in, in getting to this point where we are, but they have been really sensitive to the needs of, uh, patients with special needs in terms of how they go about ex admitting the patient into their hospital, as well as how they go about addressing the needs of the patient and the care and comfort.
Speaker 3 00:36:33 They know that a, a patient with special needs would do much better if there's a caretaker mm-hmm. <affirmative> beside that person or a family member along with that patient until they are taken to the point where they are sedated. Because we want our patient to be very comfortable in a new environment, and it's a different environment. So the environment is different. It may elicit the different response, but if the environment is different and there is a person, a caretaker, a loved one, or a family member beside a patient, then they may continue to feel very comfortable in a new setting. And so the group at Bjh really that group has really worked well to address all those needs to make sure that the patients come in, they feel comfortable and that they lean comfortable.
Speaker 2 00:37:31 So how, or what kind of, uh, you know, how does the work you do get financed and what, what is the patient's financial responsibility? How do they, because they seems like this could cost quite a bit.
Speaker 3 00:37:46 Well, I think the agreement came about not because of the cost or the economics of it, but providing a community service. I think, um, Medicaid does cover the cost of the care that's provided, but it's ne it was never about the money. It was about addressing a significant need, the disparity to access the care for our patients with special needs in the community. I think that was the main point of why this was developed. There was nowhere else to turn to. And Barnes Jewish Hospital stepped up and show that as a great institution in which they are, that they were well prepared, if not them, who Dr. Jackie Martin referenced and often spoke about many times. And we are so grateful for that because it, it, it's not a big financial incentive. It's about addressing a community need, performing a community service to the St. Louis area. And we couldn't do it. No single institution could do this alone. That's why took the poor institutions to be able to pull us off. And we, this is this like, again, I, I'm so grateful for this because it, it fits within our mission, the mission of all four institutions, and it creates the need and it helps to reduce the disparities in access to care. So that's why this, that's the main reason behind this. It's not about the, the finances.
Speaker 2 00:39:43 You know, this is pretty amazing actually. You guys do something that many dental places should do, including, um, medical doctor facilities should do. And I think people don't always have that, that outlook on things. And I just wanna commend you guys for that. I'm wondering how you think what you do, how do you feel like this changes the lives of people with disabilities? Have they given you feedback of how this changed them?
Speaker 3 00:40:18 Absolutely. I think it creates hope. And hope is amazing. When you know that there's an organization out there or a team of individuals out there from four different organizations who can help you, then I think you feel much better. Your loved ones feel much better, caretakers feel much better. And then the word gets around. There are many organizations here in the St. Louis area mm-hmm. <affirmative> that address individuals with special needs and advocate for them. And, um, and we're glad that we know can actually call ourselves really an organization that helps to do that because we're fighting day in and day out and working with individuals able to provide this type of care. And we welcome any and all individuals who need that particular care. And we have reached out, others have reached out to us. And that's why we have a list of patients waiting to be, waiting to be treated. That that's how important this is. And I, I encourage all of us to work together. I think when we do, our community benefits from this because everybody's need would be addressed.
Speaker 2 00:41:39 You know, it's interesting because when I hear about people working with people with disabilities, I, two things, although not always, but they often stand out. Either the person themselves may have a disability, they may be close to somebody with a disability, or they've grown up in surroundings with people with disability. And Dr. Big, you kind of told us your story, but Dr. McCloud, I'm wondering, did you have any of those particular situations that drew you to this,
Speaker 3 00:42:11 Sam? No. I, I I don't, but I think it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 2 00:42:17 So you're an extra amazing person then. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:42:20 Well, <laugh> well, thanks to the compliment, but I think that that is what we should be doing to make our communities better, make this world a better place. I think we are all putting on this world to be his dean. I think it's the right thing to do, to be that all patients require affordable dental care and really excellent dental care. And I, I think our mission really enable us to be able to do that. And I'm glad that I'm put into this position to be able to help make a difference. And I, and I don't work alone. I work with a great team of individuals that inspire me each day to be able to, to do the things that we do together here. And I'm glad that there are organizations out there that are willing to share the mission and that have similar missions like we do.
Speaker 3 00:43:19 But no, you, you're right. It's, it's not necessarily about having a family member or someone that I know with a disability. It's the morally right thing to do. And I, I, I think that I am passionate about it. This is one of the top priorities here at H University, Missouri School of the Material School, ofAnd and Dental, uh, it still university. Is there a school of or, uh, of, of oral of health, dentist and oral health. And I think that as we continue to build momentum with this and to be able to grow that we will continue to maybe look at even doing what we have in our initiatives. Here is a special needs dentistry fellowship that we're planning to undertake at this moment. And we hope that by doing this, we can influence other providers to be able to develop more advanced skills, such as what Dr.
Speaker 3 00:44:19 Big referenced with this training. Maybe not as advanced as that, but be able to do some of these things that will enable others to go back in their communities, whether it's are urban to be able to provide these care are, again, we're a partner, we're a partnership with a community health center there, um, several different community health centers here in Missouri that to maybe down the road be able to have their dental providers come and participate in the fellowship. Once we're able to get that off the ground, to be able to go back to their perspective dental are planning within the community health centers and make a big difference. So that's what we're doing here at H University, Missouri School of Dentistry and Rural Health.
Speaker 2 00:45:12 What is your guys' favorite story of a patient that you helped?
Speaker 4 00:45:17 There's a, there's a lot of 'em. Um, I think my favorite is, um, helping out someone when they, you know, they came to us, they had nowhere else to go and being able to just take them in and help us, help them through the work. And it's, it was someone where they were told by other places, you, to get sedation, you need to get operating room care. And we, they came to us and we started training them in the chair and they were just the nicest family. Um, and what I found was that it's my favorite story because it's about that we're just giving them the time to get to know us, get to experience dentistry in a calm, you know, nice area. And it was a great time where I was able to just get them through the appointment. They were just so thankful.
Speaker 4 00:46:28 They were like, no one else would take care of my child. Um, and it, it's in similar stories like this, multiple stories where I get that they were just told that they need to have sedation, they need to be in the operat room. And I feel very strongly that some of them maybe, but there are some where we could make a difference by taking care of them in the chair, taking steps this first time we try the images, Okay, next time, let's see, we can do a little bit more. Getting them more comfortable. And so my favorite story's really a combination of many similar stories where it's, they've been told I need sedation. And I say, Let's try just talking with them and working through what they need and helping them through. And that's, it's, it's just not just one, it's just many.
Speaker 3 00:47:28 And, and I can add a as well. I, I think what's is the recent publication that has been put out by Warren's Church Hospital with and Washington University, uh, physicians. And this part public location is called CS and the Art and Signs of Medicine. And included in this publication is a nice dental piece addressing special needs. And it highlights Ms. Sally Holland and, uh, Ms. Cassandra Holland. And Ms. Cassandra Holland is a patient with special needs and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, <affirmative>, her mom has been going through a lot of stress and anxiety, trying to find access to care for her special needs thought for many, many years, ah, <laugh>. And was just so devastated that she couldn't find a dental home for her. And every time she would call, as soon as she highlighted the fact that her daughter has special needs, they would say, No, I'm sorry. We can't treat you.
Speaker 3 00:48:38 And so she was turned on very many occasions. And the fact that this program came about, she was just so elated and so excited that we're able to get her in, get her to treated and get her daughter out of pain and help reduce the disease that were occurring within her, um, on the attention in her mouth. So I, I think this is something nice to look at. It's, it's highlighted on the porn Jewish hospital's website and it also has a video attachment there. So anyone wanting to see the excitement and the joy from a happy mother and get in her daughter treated can actually go to that website to access that video and publication.
Speaker 2 00:49:25 Well, listening to the SI for one C, two things that are possible, um, a either you will, you'll become the known renowned place that people will go to have all this done. And you'll have one heck of a lineup. So you'll have to grow a lot. Or b, you may be responsible for forcing the dental industry to raise their bar in how they treat patients, which would all in all be good as well. Um, if you guys could have any thoughts of what would you like to see this program become, if you could have it become your dream, um, more than this now, cuz now you've reached this. What, what would you like to see for the future? This program?
Speaker 3 00:50:17 I would like to see the program grow in scope and beyond the St. Louis Dental area. Again, I mentioned that we are unique, that we're the owner source program of its kind in eastern Missouri. So I would like to be able for other surrounding communities to be able to access our services. I'd also like to see down the road that our special needs fellowship will materialize so that we can have other dentists in the air participating in the particular program and becoming more competent, competent and, um, confident in treating patients with the special needs. And I also like to know that where here's a resource for anybody who needs us. And again, it's not just for the special needs, but I think our St. Louis Dental Center serves a community. We provide comprehensive dental care at a very affordable fees. We have our urgent care that all individuals can access.
Speaker 3 00:51:27 We have extended hours of operations that cater to the working board and other individuals with special needs. So we're here as a resource for the community and our program will continue to grow. And through our students, we're hoping that we'll have a network of alumni who will feel very comfortable in reducing the disparity in access to care for all patients. Not just your needs, but more so I think to help eliminate that, that barrier that stands in the way of patients with special needs. We're very glad to be able to, to participate and to make a difference.
Speaker 2 00:52:09 Well, thank you both for coming on tonight. I really appreciate your time. I know it's very valuable. Um, tell me how people can reach you guys.
Speaker 4 00:52:21 Uh, so our, well for the special needs clinic in particular, um, if you're interested in making appointment, you can call our special needs dental. Click number at 3 1 4 8 3 3 2 7 1 6.
Speaker 2 00:52:37 Can you give that once more?
Speaker 4 00:52:39 Uh, (314) 833-2716. So that's our, our phone number. And then I want to add more,
Speaker 3 00:52:50 Our general number for the St. Louis Dental Center is 3 1 4 8 3 3 2700. That's 3 1 4 8 3 3 2700. And you can look us up online at St. Louis Dental Center
Speaker 2 00:53:05 And then they can find out everything that you offer, presumably.
Speaker 3 00:53:09 Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:53:10 Is there anything else you guys would like to, to leave with?
Speaker 3 00:53:15 I do thank you for the opportunity to be able to showcase our, uh, ground breaking program here at the St. Louis Dental Center. The partnership between the four great institutions as I alluded to earlier. And I, I think there's a great need in our community, as I mentioned before, um, to address this well needed access to care. And I'm just great that I have the opportunity to work with, uh, amazing institutions, amazing faculty, staff and administrators who share a mission to advance this as a priority to be able to, to get this done. And, uh, as I said, it took three years for us to do this <laugh>, but we're so proud and happy that it's been done and we will continue to make sure that we, we, we grow the program in, in, in general. And hopefully that people are seeing what we're doing and knowing that there is a home here, whether they're in Missouri, Illinois, or elsewhere, that they can travel and get carried down in, in a timely manner.
Speaker 2 00:54:23 Thank you again very much and uh, it's been great talking to you.
Speaker 3 00:54:28 Thank you for the opportunity to be in this program. Thanks again.
Speaker 2 00:54:32 Goodnight. And this has been Disability and Progress. First of all, we'd like to remind you if you'd like to be part of our email list, you may email us at Disability and Progress all written
[email protected]. That's dis disability and
[email protected]. This has been Disability and Progress. Um, views expressed on this show are not necessarily those of kfi or it's board of directors. My name is Sam, I've been the host of the show. Charlene Dola is my research team with Gal Vargas is my engineer. Um, Erin, we, DOP is my podcaster. We've been speaking with Dr. Dwight McLeod and Dr. Paul Big. They were talking about the collaborations to provide inhow work to people with disabilities. This k a i 90.3 fm, Minneapolis, and k a I dot o. Thanks so much for listening. Goodbye.
Speaker 1 00:55:44 Hey.dot <inaudible> org.
