After a two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students with the School of Dental Medicine were back to providing oral screenings and other preventative service for Special Olympics athletes in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Special Smiles Healthy Athletes event took place during the 2022 Special Olympic Connecticut\u2019s Summer Games at Fairfield University. For the past two decades, UConn dental students have volunteered their time to provide intraoral and extraoral dental examinations, personal oral hygiene instruction, sport mouth guards, preventive fluoride varnish treatments, and dental care referral services.<\/p>\n
This year, 30 students in the UConn\u2019s Special Care Dentistry Interest Group volunteered during the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor students, volunteering with the\u00a0Healthy Athletes program\u00a0provides a unique opportunity to work with individuals with special health care needs outside a traditional healthcare setting,\u201d said Dr. Matthew Lepowsky, adjunct clinical instructor and clinical director of Special Smiles at the UConn School of Dental Medicine. \u201cThere are limited opportunities to treat patients with intellectual or developmental disabilities (I\/DD) in the standard educational curriculum, and thus participating in Special Smiles increases students’ comfort working\u00a0with this population.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis experience makes dental students better prepared to treat individuals with I\/DD\u00a0in their future careers.\u00a0For athletes, working with dental students in a friendly, low-stress environment\u00a0fosters trust in the\u00a0dental profession and encourages active participation in maintaining good oral health,\u201d Lepowsky continued.<\/p>\n
The student-run Special Care Dentistry Interest Group at UConn seeks to advance capability, capacity, and commitment to serving patients who require special care using integrated skills. The group also hosts events and volunteer opportunities such as the Summer Games to educate students about patients with a wide range of disabilities and special needs.<\/p>\n
In addition to the Summer Games, UConn dental students historically participated in the Special Olympics Holiday Sports Classic as well as other Special Olympics Connecticut events. In 2016, the School of Dental Medicine received the Golisano Health Leadership Award for the school\u2019s engagement with Special Olympics.<\/p>\n
Special Olympics is the world\u2019s largest sports organization and public health organization for more than 4.5 million people with intellectual disabilities. The Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program provides more than 1.6 million free health examinations annually in several areas of health promotion\u2014including dentistry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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