This article has been edited since it first appeared in print.
The Dr. Roger Wood Special Care Clinic at the VCU School of Dentistry features a large, wheelchair-friendly dental suite and an adjoining private suite. Other upgrades include sensory-friendly lighting and movable dental chairs and exam tables.
Navigating health care for people with special needs can be like searching for an oasis in a desert. Karen and Bob Bodett know this well. The Williamsburg-based family have sought specialists and general practitioners for their 27-year-old daughter, Tori, since a traumatic brain injury at the age of 2 left her disabled, making even routine visits to doctors and dentists a hurdle.
After Tori’s pediatric dentist retired, the family faced rejections from providers between Hampton Roads and Richmond, who cited a lack of experience with special needs patients. In 2024, Tori spent months with a broken molar until a specialist at VCU Health recommended the VCU School of Dentistry, where she received treatment and learned of forthcoming facility for special needs dental patients, the Dr. Roger Wood Special Care Clinic. After an initial telehealth appointment, Tori is expected to be one of the first patients of the school’s new adult-focused clinic.
“We were so relieved to see she was finally going to get proper care,” Karen Bodett said at a ribbon cutting for the clinic in August.
(From left) VCU President Michael Rao, Karen Wood, Dr. Roger Wood and Vice Dean of VCU Dentistry Jeff Johnson at the clinic’s August ribbon cutting
The clinic opened to in-person visits last month, one of only a handful in Virginia dedicated to serving patients with disabilities. The two-chair facility, formerly a lab space, is on the first floor of the Lyons Dental Building on the MCV campus of VCU Health.
Named for Roger Wood, a retired Midlothian-area dentist and VCU School of Dentistry alum who dedicated his career to special needs patients, the clinic aims to serve as a care hub for patients in the region who have physical and emotional disabilities. The school’s dean, Dr. Lyndon Cooper, and other leaders at the school say demand played a major role in establishing the space. In 2022, only 56% of Virginians with developmental disabilities receiving state services had a dental exam, per the 2021-22 National Core Indicators, well below the 75% who had an exam in more than half the country and the 86% goal set by the state in 2022.
Locally and nationwide, many providers lack experience with special needs or are unable to accept Medicaid to take on those patients, Cooper says. He estimates the clinic will be able to see 400-600 patients per year while educating a new generation of dentists to increase access to special needs care.
“We don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver,” he says. “We know that we can’t possibly treat every patient, every family who has a special needs adult that needs care, but I will tell you that we will fill these chairs on daily basis.”
In July, VCU Health announced plans to relocate the School of Dentistry to a new 312,000-square-foot facility, expected to open in 2029, at the current site of the Larrick Student Center on the MCV campus. After the move, Cooper says the school hopes to double the size of the special care clinic in the new building, expanding its care capacity.
“The plight of special needs patients is real,” Bodett said in August. “The need for a dedicated clinic to provide these services is vitally important.”
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