Holzinger A, Lettner S, Franz A. Attitudes of dental students towards patients with special healthcare needs: Can they be improved? Eur J Dent Educ 2020; 24: 243-251.

Emotional responses may be improved with teaching.

Patients with special healthcare needs are underserved and consequently tend to have poor oral health. This group includes those from disadvantaged backgrounds who lack social support; requiring assistance with the activities of daily living; sensory difficulties; and language problems. Providers of dental services may lack training in communication and behaviour management for this group and unfamiliarity may foster negative stereotyping.

Fourth year dental students at the Medical University of Vienna attended seminars, led by a dentist and a medical specialist. Case studies and treatment plans were discussed over five sessions. Practical involvement was introduced by observing at clinics at a homeless facility where alcoholism and substance abuse were common and at a residential facility for children and young people with learning disorders or autism.

Students completed a questionnaire about their emotional reactions to those with special healthcare needs before the course, after the seminars and after the practical exercises. On completion of the course, students expressed less uncomfortableness and aversion and greater pro-social attitudes, but the barriers to treatment provision were not removed.