The Paediatric Dental Department at Leeds Dental Institute has 45 new patient referrals every week, and at least 25% of these are children and young people with a diagnosis of learning disability or autism.

Coming to the dental hospital can be particularly challenging for these patients, who may have sensory processing differences. The environment with bright lights, unfamiliar sounds, strong smells, and unpredictability may lead to sensory overload, resulting in distress, heightened anxiety, and, in some cases, challenging behaviours.

Susan Kindelan, Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry, came up with the idea to develop a sustainable pathway to identify patients and offer families a reasonable adjustments call.

Thanks to funding from Leeds Hospitals Charity, the Leeds Dental Institute launched a new telephone clinic in October 2024, led by Zoe Shrivastva, Specialty Dentist in Paediatric Dentistry to help enhance the hospital experience for young patients.

This innovative project aims to transform the hospital experience for these children by addressing some of the challenges these patients may face coming in for treatment.

Now, Zoe and her team can contact parents in advance to better understand the needs of young patients and put reasonable adjustments in place to help them feel more comfortable and ensure they get the treatment they need.

The team have created two templates to gather information about these young people prior to their appointment, one with general questions and a second specific to coming into clinic or having general anaesthetic. In addition to this, two videos have been created providing walkthroughs of the clinical areas, so patients know what to expect when they arrive in hospital, along with other preparatory information like social stories and website pages with useful links and resources

We spoke to Zoe about the difference this has made to children with learning disabilities and autism who visit the department:

“When we contact parents in advance, they are often relieved that we have taken the time to speak to them ahead of their child’s appointments. This helps them feel reassured that we’re able to make adjustments, like dimming the lighting for patients with sensory needs, or ensuring they can be seen in a quiet space. Something so small, can help make a real difference to a child’s experience in hospital, making sure they get the treatment they need, reducing incidents, waiting times and cancelled appointments.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Leeds Hospitals Charity for enabling us to launch this initiative that is making a difference to so many young people and their families and have ambitions to continually evolve the service we offer tailored to the needs of our patients.”

15-year-old Kai has been diagnosed with learning disability, with autistic traits and has been traumatised through previous visits to the dentist, making it impossible to have the urgent dental care he needed.

Karen, Kai’s mum spoke to us about her experience visiting the dentist with her son previously.

“We went about five or six times to the dental clinic, Kai wouldn’t let the dentist anywhere near him, he would barricade himself under the table. We tried a different dentist, but unfortunately Kai was traumatised after the dentist prodded an infected tooth and he refused to go back again, and couldn’t get the treatment he needed.”

After eight years of battling to get Kai to the dentist, everything changed when he was referred to Chapel Allerton hospital. Karen was offered reasonable adjustments call with Zoe, which helped the team create an environment tailored to his needs, where Kai would feel more comfortable and could have his urgent treatment.

Karen, who suffers from anxiety herself, said that having a place where staff understand and acknowledge her and her son’s needs has been a god-send,

“I've never looked back since we came here. If we hadn’t come here, Kai would have no hope of having his infected teeth removed, and the problem would just get worse. The staff have gone the extra mile, not only for Kai but for me too. It’s reassuring to know exactly what to expect.”