Policy on Hospitalization and Operating Room Access for Oral Care of Infants, Children, Adolescents, and Individuals with Special Health Care Needs

Policy statement

The AAPD’s strategic objectives include oral health advocacy and addressing barriers to care.1 Therefore, AAPD works with all concerned medical and dental colleagues and organizations to remove barriers to hospital and operating room access for oral care for patients best treated in those settings and for their dental providers. The AAPD affirms that hospitals or outpatient surgical settings are the optimal treatment facilities for some patients with urgent treatment needs or medically-complex conditions and that they should not discriminate against pediatric dental patients requiring care under general anesthesia. Access to these facilities and the timely provision of care are essential to the health and safety of many pediatric dental patients. The dental patient, as with any other patient, should have the right to be seen in a safe and timely manner.