Learning Objectives: 

• Recognize oral conditions that are common among people in the I/DD population
• Describe the systemic health conditions that affect this population and how they relate to oral disease.
• Explain various ways to provide compassionate dental care for the I/DD population 
• Identify barriers to dental care for the I/DD population

People with Intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) are less likely to have regular dental care due to the limited number of dental professionals who are trained to provide care to this population. With 7.39 million people in the United States who have an I/DD, the need has never been greater to become educated on how to provide dental care for this vulnerable population. Most dental providers have had little to any training in school on best practices for taking care of this population and therefore do not feel comfortable careing for them. Traditonal dental offices are not set up to accomodate someone with special needs making visits stressful for everyone. Compared to the general population, people in the I/DD population experience more chronic disease at an earlier age as well as oral health issues at a much higher rate. In addition to the lack of trained dental providers, there are a multitude of other barriers that contribute to dental access issues for the I/DD population. In addition to training dental professionals on best practices for caring for this population, providing care where the I/DD population live and decreasing other barriers,will help to bring much needed dental care to them.This can be accomplished with the help ofteledentistry.