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University of Florida

Future Florida dentists learn to treat patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities 


  • UF dental students train to treat patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, using a compassionate approach.
  • New research identifies a lack of training for general dentists as a primary barrier to care for the 470,000 Florida residents living with these disabilities.
  • A historic state investment is funding a new UF Dental Science Building with a clinic designed to provide sensory-adapted, accessible care for patients with disabilities.

For years, a mother drove five hours and paid nearly $4,000 per visit so her son with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDDs, could receive routine dental cleanings under sedation. It was the only way, even with its massive expense, that her son previously tolerated the treatments. 

But everything changed when she found Dr. Bryan Smallwood, D.M.D., M.P.H., C.P.H., at the Florida Department of Health in Marion County — a 2022 UF College of Dentistry graduate who is known for his compassionate, communicative approach to treating patients like her son.

“I talked to the patient, explained each step and worked slowly,” Smallwood said.

The response was immediate. Smallwood was able to complete a comprehensive exam, full radiographs and a cleaning, all without sedation, for less than $100 out of pocket. For a mother accustomed to 10-hour round trips and thousands in expenses, it proved the barrier wasn’t her son; it was a system that never gave him a chance. 

Giving patients with IDDs a chance

In Florida, an estimated 470,000 residents have IDDs, according to the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, and most struggle to find a dentist trained to treat them. Nationally, only 56% of adults with disabilities visited a dentist in the past year, compared to 70% of adults without disabilities, according to the latest State of Oral Health Equity in America survey.

First-year UF dental student Lauren Mai wanted to know why, so she researched barriers to care for patients with IDDs alongside faculty mentor Astha Singhal, B.D.S., M.P.H., Ph.D., as part of the 2025 cohort for the UF College of Dentistry Summer Research Program.  

“Most dentists reported minimal or no formal training in treating patients with IDDs in dental school,” said Mai, who interviewed 15 general dentists across the state.

She identified four strategies to address the crisis: targeted continuing education, early exposure in dental school, mentorship opportunities and systemic support. The UF College of Dentistry training and care model incorporates all four approaches.

“The part that requires training is actively analyzing the most effective type of communication,” said Smallwood, who credits his approach to Dr. Timothy Garvey, D.M.D., a clinical assistant professor of pediatric dentistry who has treated patients with IDDs for 35 years. “Some [patients] do better with pictures, others with numbers and some need to be shown everything step by step.”

A new approach and a statewide impact

For nearly 40 years, UF College of Dentistry faculty clinicians have trained residents at college-owned dental centers and affiliated clinics across Florida — from Hialeah and St. Petersburg to the NCF Pediatric Dental Center in Naples — to treat patients with IDDs.

Partnerships with Special Day Foundation, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health and the B. Thomas Golisano Foundation have expanded resources across all three sites. UF also brings preventative care and screenings directly to patients in North Central Florida with its mobile clinic at The Arc of Alachua County.

“Whether it is a lack of provider education, lack of financial support or lack of compassion… there is a lack [among this patient population],” said Whitney Haley, a UF-trained dental hygienist who organizes home-based care for patients with IDDs. “I’ve seen patients who once needed sedation for routine care no longer need it. And I’ve seen newly licensed doctors go the extra mile to provide complete, compassionate care.”

Meeting the demand

Since January 2024, 92 UF D.M.D. students have rotated through Marion County’s clinic under Smallwood’s mentorship, with 10 more training at The Arc of Alachua County via the mobile dental unit. By October 2025, the clinic had already served 226 patients with IDDs — a more than 5,000% increase in just two years. 

The demand was always there, but the trained providers were not. The UF College of Dentistry’s newly announced multi-phase Dental Science Building renovation and addition project is the infrastructure that will support the college in continuing to meet that demand.

Construction will begin on the 100,000‑square‑foot addition in August 2026, with occupancy expected in August 2028, and the renovation of the existing 11‑story dental tower is slated for completion in 2030. This historic work is backed by the largest investment the state of Florida has made in a medical science building at any state university.

As Dean Isabel Garcia said at the December 2025 groundbreaking event for the building project, “Our Personalized Care Clinic will be designed to deliver expanded, individual care for patients with IDDs, including sensory-adapted rooms that provide them a safe, welcoming environment that will be more comfortable and less frightening.”