Transitioning Adolescent Patients with Special Health Care Needs from Pediatric to Adult Dental Care

Health care transition from adolescence into adulthood is a complex process that often lacks care coordination, planning, and collaboration among the parties involved. Dental transition is significantly more challenging for adolescents with special health care needs. Shortage of qualified general dentists willing to treat these individuals and low dental reimbursement by public insurance programs are significant barriers to successful transition. Adequate training to increase dental workforce, insurance benefits, protocol development, and research are needed to ensure successful transition for this population. Meanwhile, it is important to target individuals less likely to access adequate oral health care and achieve satisfactory transition.