Resources for Oral Health Care for Persons with Deveopmental Disabilities

We’ve compiled an extensive list of websites, news, and meeting presentations and citations to published research. Check them out!

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Autism Events

Walk Now for Autism Speaks
Ever wondered where the Autism Speaks Walk money goes??  Now is your chance to find out. Autism Speaks funds research at 17 sites nationally.  One of those sites is right here in Rochester. Come and find out what they do and get inspired to raise money.

2012 Rochester Walk Now for Autism Speaks
Date:           Saturday, September 29,. 2012
Location:  Monroe Community College

To join the walk, form a team, or for more information, visit the Rochester Walk Now for Autism Speaks website.

Autism Research at the University of Rochester: A Conference for Families
Date:          June 9, 9-11:30 AM
Location: Helen Wood Hall (Nursing School) Auditorium
Parking in Saunders Research Building Lot
Panelists will discuss the work they’re doing at the University, at Golisano Children’s Hospital, and with colleagues at other institutions to improve the lives of children with autism and their families. Presentations include: Autism Research Network at University of Rochester, current autism research related to sleep, diet and nutrition, taste and smell, genetics and hyperactivity.
The Conference is sponsored by the Autism Treatment Network and is free.
Attendees can park in the Saunders Research Building lot.
Register at (585) 275-7701 or

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Eastman Dental’s Dr. Wayne Lipschitz interviewed about oral health for persons with developmental disabilities

Read the article For cognitively impaired, care poses a challenge,  published by delaware online.

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Managing Dental Care for Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The Southeast Regional Consortium and AUCD Presents the following webinar:

Managing Dental Care for Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Thursday, May 3, 2012
2:00pm EST – 3:00pm EST

For more information and to register go to

Posted in Developmental Disabilities, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, Golisano Foundation, Oral Health, Special Care Dentistry | 7 Comments

An invitation from the Community Task Force on Oral Health Needs of People with Developmental Disabilities

Please join us for the 2nd Community Planning Meeting

Date:        May 23, 2012
Time:       5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Location:  Rochester General Hospital – Twig Auditorium
1425 Portland Avenue
Free parking! Please park in the Portland Avenue ramp garage. Once in the main lobby, ask for directions to the Twig Auditorium at the information desk. You will receive a validation sticker for free parking at the workshop.

Free sandwiches, chips, cookies, and drinks available. The workshop will feature Keynote Speaker Dr. Paul Glassman, a nationally recognized expert in oral health care for people with special and complex needs.  Also, results to date will be shared, including input from dentists, providers, parents and caregivers who were recently surveyed to gain their insight about gaps, barriers, resources, and successes in oral health care provision.

To register, please visit:
or call  585-275-2917 today!

Keynote Speaker
Paul Glassman, DDS, MA, MBA

Dr. Glassman is Professor of Dental Practice and Director of Community Oral Health and Director of the Pacific Center for Special Care at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco. Dr. Glassman also directs a residency program, widely recognized for its emphasis on preparing residents to care for people with complex medical, physical, and psychological conditions within a general dentistry practice.

Dr. Glassman is Past President and Director of Advocacy and Policy for Special Care Dentistry, the largest national membership organization devoted to improving oral health for people with special needs. He is former president of the Special Care Dentistry Association.

Over the last 20 years, Dr. Glassman has also worked closely on significant grant-funded projects devoted to developing innovative residency training models and community-based systems to improve oral health for people with special needs. Dr. Glassman is also Co-Director of the Statewide Taskforce on Oral Health for People with Special Needs with representation from more than 80 government agencies and other advocacy groups.

Posted in Developmental Disabilities, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, Golisano Foundation, Oral Health, Paul Glassman, Special Care Dentistry | Leave a comment

Project Updates

Presentations from our March 12 Community Planning Workshop are now available for you to view on our website.


If you have questions about the project, or would like to participate in a focus group, contact us.

Posted in Developmental Disabilities, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, Golisano Foundation, Oral Health, Special Care Dentistry | Leave a comment

Dr. Perlman: Special Needs Dentists are like Pirates

Those struggling through the jungle of special needs dentistry have a chance to make a real difference, Special Olympics Global Clinical Advisor Dr. Steven Perlman told 75 people at the first Community Planning Workshop at Eastman Dental.

Dr. Steven Perlman (left) and Robert Marketell, Special Olympics Regional Director are pirates together working to remove barriers for people with developmental disabilities.

I’ve taken that chance,” he said, “and while I may not have changed the world, for some people I changed their day, I changed their pain and their appearance, and changed their belief that finding someone who cared enough to try was not impossible.”Perlman likened dentists who serve those with special needs with pirates, sharing a quote from the late Steve Jobs that “it’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”

“Being a dentist in the rough waters of caring for people with unique distractions, unique behaviors and unique orientations is more like being a pirate than being a naval officer,” he said.

Dr. Cyril Meyerowitz explained the project to attendees of the first community planning workshop. The next one is scheduled for May.

“We’re pirates, we’re rogues and renegades,” he added. “We didn’t initially sign up for that role but the profession forced it upon us.  Being a pirate works best when the rules and regulations don’t permit you to navigate unchartered waters without the support of a fleet you had hoped would be behind you.  But when it comes to dealing with arrogance, indifference, injustice and neglect in caring for people with complex dental needs being a pirate is the perfect persona.

“Dental education has ignored this population.  Many of our colleagues have never experienced the joy and the rewards of treating patients with disabilities.  Many of our colleagues will never see the expression of thanks on the eyes of someone who cannot say it any other way, or not feel the scintilla of knowing that they and they alone stopped to flow of psychotropic drugs erroneously prescribed to stop the sudden onset of self abuse when all it took to stop it was to curtail a brewing or sinister oral problem that no one though to find.

“Many of them may never see the joy on the face of parents when you smile and say, ‘Of course I’ll treat your child,’” he added.

“Go forth and save their smiles…perhaps beginning with a commitment to save one.”

Eastman Institute for Oral Health received a grant from the Golisano Foundation to undertake what is believed to be the first comprehensive survey of dental needs, including access to care, for people with developmental disabilities in a five-county region.  For more information, visit:

About the Speaker:

Dr. Perlman then started Special Smiles, a dental screening for athletes at one Special Olympics event in Boston.  Today, Special Smiles screen athletes at 220 events in 100 countries, where they collect data to address this critical public health concern.

This started because John F. Kennedy’s sister Rosemary Kennedy had developmental disabilities.  Their sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, brought public awareness to developmental disabilities, and founded Special Olympics.  However, Rosemary’s dentists wanted to take out all her teeth, but Eunice was against that and asked Dr. Steven Perlman to treat her.  Dr. Perlman was able to restore them.

Today, Dr. Steven Perlman is a Clinical Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at The Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine.  For the past 35 years, he has devoted much of his private practice as well as his teaching, to the treatment of children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Dr. Perlman is a past president of both the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and The Massachusetts Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.  He is a Fellow of The Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, a Fellow of The American College of Dentists and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry.

Dr. Perlman is a cofounder of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and in 2005 and 2006 served as an advisor to the President’s Committee for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. He is currently president-elect of the AADMD.

He is the recipient of the Harold Berk Award from the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and the Manny Album Award from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.  Both awards are the highest honors of the organizations recognizing lifetime achievement in the care of people with disabilities.

In 2010, Massachusetts Special Olympics honored him with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver “Let Me Be Brave” award at a banquet honoring his achievements.

In 2005, Dr. Perlman received The Exceptional Parent Maxwell J. Schileifer Distinguished Service Award for dedication to improving the lives of individuals with special needs and disabilities as well as The Trudi Birger Community Service Award from Alpha Omega for extraordinary contribution to children with special needs all over the world.

Posted in Developmental Disabilities, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, Golisano Foundation, Oral Health, Special Care Dentistry, Steven Perlman | 1 Comment