Australian Dentist Bringing Smiles to People with Special Needs
When Dr. Lydia See graduated from The University of Queensland’s School of Dentistry she became one of only a handful of qualified special needs dentists in Australia. This year there are two graduates from The University of Queensland’s Doctor of Clinical Dentistry (Special Needs Dentistry) program.
Dr. See has been a general dentist for over 10 years and has been inspired by experiences helping vulnerable and socially disadvantaged people through volunteer work.
“I always try to play music in the clinic and discovered this young lady with autism was a Disney fan, so we’d play classical versions of the songs and have her guess what they were,” she said. “Over multiple visits, she was eventually able to feel comfortable enough to trust us to undertake complex dental procedures and as a result, we were able to save the tooth.”
Dr. See said she was excited about the potential to help more patients with a research project into silver fluoride.
“Silver fluoride has been around in dentistry for a long time, but we’ve taken a fresh look at how it can be used to manage the rate of tooth decay in adult patients with special needs,” she said.
Read the full press release from the University of Queensland.
