In Windsor, specialized dental chairs for special-needs kids

Nathan Burger lies back on a gurney-like dental chair, motionless from general anesthesia, his mouth held wide open by cheek retractors as a pediatric dentist methodically fills his 13 cavities.

At 80 pounds and a little more than 5 feet tall, the 11-year-old autistic boy is almost too big for the regular dental chairs at PDI Surgery Center in Windsor, where most of the center’s patients are under 7 years old.

But now, two newly acquired mobile and motorized medical chairs make it much easier for PDI dentists to work on older and bigger special-needs kids like Nathan. The chairs allow PDI, Northern California’s only nonprofit dental surgery center for kids on Medi-Cal, to serve kids who have a variety of special needs, such as cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, autism and developmental disabilities.

“There’s nothing like this anywhere in our county,” said Nathan’s mother, Amy Burger of Booneville in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley. “There’s a lot of kids in our Valley that could use a place like this.”

Getting the $12,500 TransMotion medical chairs was no easy task for the surgery center, which gets most of its funding from Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, and fundraising. Medi-Cal does not cover dental care directly.

PDI had to team up with Partnership HealthPlan of California, a community-based health care organization that contracts with the state to administer Medi-Cal benefits in 14 Northern California counties. Partnership used a portion of a $60,000 grant to purchase the chairs, which eliminate the need to lift and move older, bigger patients out of the center’s regular dental chairs to recovery gurneys. The chairs are themselves gurneys.

“They make a huge difference for us,” said Susie Ryan, one of the center’s pediatric dentists. “I can do my job more efficiently and effectively,” she said.

In order to accommodate special-needs patients, the nonprofit surgery center has set aside one Monday of each month. Viveka Rydell, CEO of PDI, said the program with Partnership gives the surgery center the flexibility. The center was not built to serve older kids with special needs.

“We know there’s a huge need out there,” Rydell said.

Since last September, PDI has seen about six to eight special-needs kids a month, providing them with such things as deep cleanings, sealants and fillings. Special-needs children often require more intensive dental care because of their disabilities, said Julie Tucker, PDI’s administrator who helped put together the once-a-month service.

Sometimes, said Tucker, staff will make the most of the time special-needs patients are under anesthesia, cutting fingernails and toenails and even shaving older boys.

“We don’t bill for that,” said Rydell.

Amy Burger said her son was a little nervous just before he was given anesthesia earlier this week.

“He seemed fine right up until they put the gas mask on, but he fell asleep right away,” she said.

Robb Layne, a spokesman for Partnership HealthPlan, said the dental chairs are part of the health plan’s “whole-person” approach to health care, with a focus on prevention.

“Just because our members’ teeth are not part of a covered medical benefit does not mean we’re not concerned about the whole health of each of our members,” he said. “If a person shows up in an emergency room with tooth issues, that’s a cost that each of our community providers has to incur.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.