Searching for a dentist

Question

Hello,
I am searching for a good dentist for a CF child in our region [comment from ECORN-CF: the question was from Germany, concrete names were left out]. The dentist in our home town and a pediatric dentist refused to treat our son, and sent me to the next university hopspital. There I also have been told, after I have shown the handout from our CF-center (external surgical motor, etc.) that they are not going to do it. They gave me the telephone number of the State Chamber of dentists of our federal state, however, there they did not know either, which dentist is equipped in which way. Where do all the other CF patients go to the dentist? A list in the CF center would be great, however is unfortunately not available, there. Could you help me further? Many thanks!

Answer

Dear parents,
first of all I would like to apologize for the late answer. The reason for this is that I am in part also a bit helpless. The by you mentioned handout from the CF-center is based on my proposals; these should in no way be understood as binding treatment guidelines or suchlike, for this I am not authorized as being a general dentist having an own office. This handout is meant only to give suggestions, how the risk of infection for CF patients at a dentist‘s treatment can be minimized.
In general, the infection protection in German dentists‘ offices is at a very high level due to apparative and personal equipment as well as controls. That means in practice, that there is no increased risk for CF patients in a modern dentist’s office, where the normal hygienic rules are maintained.
If the consequence of those suggestions now is that nobody dares to treat CF patients anymore, they do not meet their target.
Indeed the State Chamber of dentists has lists about the suitability of dentists‘ offices for the treatment of disabeled patients, fear patients or children, however not for single specific diseases.
The question of the usage of an external surgical motor is not so problematic: every office, in which dental implants are done (and that are very many in the meantime) has necessarily such a device. I therefore do not understand, that one cannot treat your child and do completely not understand that the university hospital should not be able to do it.
Probably it would be indeed the best, if you ask other parents of CF-children about their dentist, who have experience on this field. For sure there are patient support groups or internet platforms which could give you information.
Experiences from a nothern German region, for example, show, that the CF patients there were content with their dentists, so that it was not necessary to determine one „special CF-dentist“. Of course it does always make sense to ask about disinfection and cleaning at the choice of the dentist, in order to find out his attidtude and his suitability as your personal dentist.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Sies

22.03.2012

17.4.12
There was a comment from a reader of the question/answer pair above, wondering, if it would be better (in case of a good dental chart) to reduce the frequency of visits at the dentist to a minimum, for example every 2 to 3 years, in order to reduce the risk of infections for CF patients. Dr. Sies (dentist) who also gave the answer to the question above, commented on this issue: “I do not regard it as a good idea to reduce the frequency of visits at the dentist to every 2 to 3 years. Especially in dentistry, substantial long-term damages and complications (caries and parodontitis) can be avoided by regular control and prophylaxis measures, like regular yearly control visits at the dentist.”
D. d'Alquen