Torah Currents

Dentist tries to examine severely autistic patient’s mouth. Some severely autistic persons present with extreme tactile defensiveness. How do you get dental care without sedation or, in some cases, general anesthesia? Try doing dental exam on a profoundly or severely autistic adult who is punching themselves in the head. Or jumping out of seat and grabbing dental instruments. Or biting dentist. Or screaming and kicking. Welcome to the world of severe to profound autism with behavioral challenges. Legislative Analyst Office LAO Health Dental Vision Benefits. State employees. Fragile dependents. Department of Personnel (DPA) Administration. State contribution. Considering exceptional persons. Accomodations. Adults with classic autism. Another educational video for autism awareness. This time for Dental Insurance Carriers, dentists, bargaining teams and other folks deciding on health, vision and dental care. Don’t assume everyone will just walk in, sit down, open their mouth, get an x-ray, receive dental treatment and leave with a cheerful goodbye. Not happening here. An eye exam or quick medical look is possible, but no way are you doing dental care on majority of severely autistic persons without some kind of sedation. And it’s NOT the person’s fault. This isn’t some kind of “denal phobia.” This is rooted in AUTISM DISORDER. So how the heck do insurances get away with discriminating against this population by denying paying for NECESSARY sedation so they can get basic dental care? WHY hasn’t this been challenged? It’s 2010. For decades, families have had autistic or otherwise developmentally challenged dependents. Nobody has noticed? Considered this? Can we please change this? This population needs dental care. Imagine being non verbal. They can’t tell us if they have tooth pain. You can’t detect cavity unless they’re sedated. You can’t do dental work unless they’re sedated. So, you have to do everything in the same day.

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