Many patients who come to the clinic for dental treatment are elderly, have systemic diseases that require an exact knowledge of these and their implications and interactions in the dental area, cardiovascular, immunological, endocrine, metabolic pathologies, etc. that must be known by the dentist in order to correctly perform the treatments, safely for both the patient and the dentist. Likewise, people with some type of disability present complex and difficult challenges for the profession. Added to this is the appearance of oral lesions secondary to taking certain medications, interactions between them or oral manifestations of underlying systemic diseases. We consider all of them special patients.
Currently, academic training in the degree is limited to purely theoretical concepts and a reduced clinical practice in elderly people with little risk. Patients with significant medical involvement, with mental disabilities and who are uncooperative generate a pathology that the degree student, given their inexperience, is not able to handle with ease. The techniques, materials and procedures used in these patients are substantially different and create opportunities to promote research. Finally, the shortage of professionals trained in this area and the demand from specialized centers and hospitals can only be met from the perspective of training programs with these characteristics.
For all these reasons, it is necessary to be up to date with the latest publications.