Dental services for children with mental handicaps: policy changes and parental choices

Dental services for children with mental handicaps are subject to conflicting policies. On the one hand, the community dental service is being asked to move towards a more specialised role and to focus on disadvantaged groups such as people with mental handicaps. On the other hand, policies for community care have stressed that handicapped people are stigmatised by specialised provision and should have access to all the services used by non-handicapped people. A longitudinal study of 162 mentally handicapped children provided an opportunity to assess parents' opinions on this issue. The results showed high levels of contact with the dental services. Most parents were satisfied with the care their children had received, although there was some suggestion of a preference for receiving care from the general dental practitioner service. However, parents whose children were hard to manage tended to prefer the more specialised care provided by the community dental service. The results of the study suggested that there is a continuing role for the community dental service and that general dental practitioners may need support from the community dental service to help them meet the demands of parents whose children have a mental handicap.