Oral health promotion for special care patients

Special healthcare needs are defined as ‘any physical, developmental, mental, sensory, behavioural, cognitive, or emotional impairment or limiting condition that requires medical management, healthcare intervention, and/or use of specialised services or programs’ (American Academy of Paediatric Dentistry, 2008).

There are approximately 11 million disabled adults in the UK (Papworth Trust, 2008). In addition, there are 10 million people aged over 65 years; 3 million of these are aged over 80.3 years. This older population will lead to an increase in the incidence of chronic conditions such as arthritis, cardiovascular and neurological disease and therefore an increased number of people with physical impairment in the population. Arthritis already affects 8 million people in the UK (Gallagher and Fiske, 2007). Among people with physical impairment at least 750 000 are wheelchair users (Aldersea, 1996;Department of Health, 2004).