Dental care for children with mental retardation: thoughts about the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Americans with Disabilities Act bars discrimination in public accommodations, housing, employment and health care for people with disabilities. Efforts to "mainstream" (in housing and education) many of the individuals with mental retardation have altered the setting for dental services and place demands for services by dental practitioners in the community. These developments should be considered within the jurisdiction of this new legislation. Demographic characteristics and dental needs of children with mental retardation are reviewed to provide a background for this discussion.
Waldman
H B
HB
Department of General Dentistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook 11794-8706, USA.
Perlman
S P
SP
Swerdloff
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D019140:Dental Care for Children; D003730:Dental Care for Persons with Disabilities / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology