Education
ENDS providers spend quality time educating patients, family members, and care givers with specific oral hygiene instructions, which are also highlighted in a copy of the chart notes left with the patient. Expanded Practice Dental Hygienists (EPDHs) may also provide dental in-service training to instruct care providers on how to properly care for and manage the dental health of their clients.
Outreach
ENDS partners with EPDHs to identify members with special healthcare needs, who reside in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and adult foster care.
Case Management
ENDS coordinates treatment with multiple medical providers due to extensive needs. This includes follow-up and tracking of treatment, developing an individual plan by identifying needed services and treatment, and communicating regularly with an individual’s support systems and care providers.
Mobile Dentistry
ENDS’ providers travel to long-term care facilities, adult foster care, and group homes for patients requiring assistance with Activities of Daily Living, who are unable to receive treatment in a traditional office setting due to functional impairment.
Diagnostic Dental Care
During a routine visit, ENDS’ contracted providers may perform an oral examination, accompanied with an oral cancer screening and radiographs, to look for any changes in patients’ dental or medical health since their last check-up. If there have been changes to a patient’s health, dentists work with patients, caregivers, and their families to adjust the treatment plan for a patient’s individual needs and long-term health.
Preventative Dentistry
ENDS’ providers perform preventative services, such as prophylaxis, in long-term care facilities, group homes, adult foster care, and hospital settings. Basic periodontics are also performed in diagnosing and treating gum diseases and other problems in the soft tissues inside the mouth.
Restorative
ENDS dentists use fillings on decayed portions of restorable teeth. Fillings are also used to repair cracked or broken teeth and teeth.
Oral Surgery (Extractions)
When necessary, ENDS’ dentists perform tooth extractions. During the consultation an ENDS provider reviews available options with patients, caregivers, and their families.
Dentures
Partial or complete denture treatment begins only after periodontal and restorative treatment is finished. ENDS’ providers consider a patient’s overall oral condition to assure the long-term viability of the denture.
Emergency Care
ENDS utilizes its provider network to schedule patients with the first available dentist in the event of a dental emergency. The objective for emergency visits is to ease pain and to create a treatment plan for preventing emergencies in the future.
Hospital Dentistry
When patients have behavioral management issues and/or are medically compromised but unable to be treated using oral sedation, if not medically contraindicated, they may be treated in a hospital setting under general anesthesia. Following treatment, patients are referred to their mobile dental care provider for periodic recalls.