Dental desensitization by dentists and occupational therapists for autistic adults: A pilot study.

Castaño Novoa et al. (2024) ran a small pilot where dentists and occupational therapists worked together. They taught autistic adults to tolerate dental exams and simple treatments without sedation.

The team used gradual exposure in the dental chair. OTs handled sensory tools and coping skills. Dentists performed the actual procedures.

Most adults in the program completed exams and minor work without drugs. The study calls this a 'considerable percentage' success.

Participants stayed calm enough for the dentist to finish the job. No one needed pharmacological restraint during the pilot.

Nguyen et al. (2025) got the same sedation-free goal using telehealth caregiver coaching. Their 29 of 30 adults succeeded, but only with the coached clinic. Patricia's team shows in-clinic desensitization works too, so you now have two proven roads to the same outcome.

Nordahl et al. (2008) removed sedation for toddler MRI scans using child-friendly steps. Patricia moves that idea to adult dental care, proving the no-sedation approach spans both age and procedure type.

Pimentel Júnior et al. (2024) scoping review laments 'protocol gaps' and too few trained dentists. Patricia's dentist-OT partnership is exactly the kind of structured program the field is missing, so it fills a gap the literature just flagged.

If you serve autistic adults, you can now request or help build a joint dentist-OT desensitization track. Schedule a few warm-up visits with the OT first, then add the dentist for short probes. Your client avoids sedation side effects, and the dental team gets a repeatable protocol. Share the Patricia paper with local dentists who say 'we can't treat autistic adults without sedation.'