• Event
• Expressions Winter 2024

Dental Child’s Play

Children with additional needs role-play as mini-dentists for a day

A child mini-dentist is guided on using a dental mirror to examine her parent’s teeth.

Twenty-three children with additional needs were invited to the HKU Faculty of Dentistry’s inaugural Mini-Dentist Experience Day, specially designed to help them feel at ease in a dental clinic while learning about oral health in a fun way.

Dental visits can be overwhelming for children with additional needs, owing to their heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli such as sights, sounds, and tactile sensations, often resulting in anxiety and discomfort. These challenges are more problematic if dental care is not tailored to the children’s needs by trained specialists. Because of the scarcity of specialised care services, it is important to help these children become accustomed to the dental clinic environment, so they are prepared for future dental visits.

To provide such support, the HKU Faculty of Dentistry’s Institute for Advanced Dentistry Multi-Specialty Clinic (IAD-MSC) hosted a Mini-Dentist Experience Day on 16 November 2024, in collaboration with the Child Development Centre, a local non-governmental organisation that provides educational services to children with additional needs. The two-fold aim was to alleviate any fear or anxiety the children might have about visiting the dentist and encourage them to develop good oral hygiene habits from a young age. Leading the day’s activities were resident dentists from the Paediatric Dentistry Department of the IAD-MSC, assisted by staff from the Child Development Centre.

Children with additional needs learn about oral hygiene through interactive games

During the event, the participating children engaged in a range of interactive games and activities to learn about maintaining good oral health and hygiene. They also role-played as mini-dentists, wearing white coats to perform guided dental check-ups on their parents. This experience allowed them to feel comfortable and relaxed in a safe and supportive dental clinic setting, preparing them to calmly undergo dental examinations conducted by IAD-MSC resident dentists later in the day. The dentists then provided the parents with detailed information and advice about their children’s oral hygiene status.

The IAD-MSC hopes that this first-time event promoted awareness of oral health care among the children and will reduce any dental anxiety in the future.

The children expressed enthusiasm and showed active engagement throughout the day’s activities, and both parents and Child Development Centre staff gave positive feedback about the event. “The IAD-MSC hopes that this first-time event promoted awareness of oral health care among the children and will reduce any dental anxiety in the future,” said a resident dentist. “IAD-MSC intends to organise the Mini-Dentist Experience Day for children with additional needs on a regular basis.”

IAD-MSC offers expertise in seven different dental disciplines, including paediatric dentistry. The clinic’s primary mission is to train dental specialists and provide advanced dental care at affordable rates to individuals with severe and complex oral conditions. If needed, children can receive specialised treatment under general anaesthesia or monitored anaesthesia care to ensure smooth treatment.

A resident dentist (right) performs a dental check-up on a participating child and later offers advice to the child’s parent (left).