How to solve the problem of providing dental services to persons with special needs

Finding a systemic solution for providing dental services to children with special needs in Sarajevo Canton was the reason for today's meeting, organized and held by the Minister of Health of SC Emira Tanović-Mikulec with representatives of the Public Institution Health Center of Sarajevo Canton, the Clinic for Maxillofacial Surgery of the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, the Faculty of Dentistry with clinics of UNSA, the Health Insurance Fund of SC, as well as parents and representatives of associations of persons with special needs, reports the Patria News Agency.  

-The goal of this meeting is to intensify the work of all levels of healthcare in terms of providing dental care to children with special needs. An adequate system for the continuous provision of all types of dental services to persons with special needs, with and without general anesthesia, has not been established in Sarajevo.

Therefore, parents justifiably express their dissatisfaction because they often have to wander, starting from primary healthcare, to find an adequate solution for their child, emphasized Minister Tanović-Mikulec.

In addition to dental interventions at Maxillofacial Surgery, where teeth are extracted for children and persons with special needs under general anesthesia, there are no other types of services, i.e., dental treatment and repair. One of the reasons cited is the lack of organizational prerequisites for the permanent engagement of an anesthesiology and resuscitation specialist within primary healthcare and the clinics of the Faculty of Dentistry, and a certain number of patients with special needs have an indication for general anesthesia to enable access to the oral region.

It was concluded at the meeting that, first and foremost, it is necessary to ensure a comprehensive approach to all patients with special needs through the mandatory opening of a dental record with family medicine teams, in order to ensure fast and efficient patient flow to other specialist services and avoid unnecessary wandering of parents in healthcare institutions.

It was also agreed that the Public Institution Health Center will provide a specialist team to continue the work of the dental clinic at the Center for Upbringing, Education, and Rehabilitation „Vladimir Nazor“, where preventive and educational treatments would be provided to prepare children for further regular dental treatments in other healthcare institutions.

Specialist-consultative dental care is provided at the clinics of the Faculty of Dentistry as a regular procedure with previously obtained health documentation.

It was emphasized that the Ministry of Health of SC is conducting final consultations with the clinics of this faculty in order to secure the necessary staff, i.e., anesthesiologists, who will be available for dental interventions 24 hours a day. This will solve the problem of ensuring and accessing all dental services for patients with special needs.

-It is good that for the first time, the issue of dental care for children with special needs is being addressed systematically. Our children have been brought to a situation where there is no one to fix their teeth, which is the key problem. Today's meeting gives me hope that this problem will be solved, as well as other problems that we parents face when it comes to this type of healthcare, said Ines Kavalec.

As emphasized at the meeting, until final solutions are reached and all necessary dental services are secured, all urgent interventions for patients with special needs will continue to be performed at the Clinic for Maxillofacial Surgery, it was announced from the relevant ministry.