Frail Patients Losing Access To Dental House Calls

(By Ana B. Ibarra for California Healthline produced by Kaiser Health News)

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — Devon Rising shakes his head and tries to cover his face with his hands. It’s time to get his few remaining teeth cleaned, and he fusses for a bit.

Gita Aminloo, his dental hygienist, tries to calm him by singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” the classic children’s song.

Rising, 42, is mentally disabled and blind. He has cerebral palsy and suffers from seizures. It’s hard for him to get to a dentist’s office, so Aminloo brought her dental picks, brushes and other tools to him at the residential care facility he shares with several other people who have developmental disabilities. Continue reading article here…

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.”

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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