UAB Sparks Dental Clinic provides dental care tailored for individuals with special health needs and disabilities. We specialize in providing safe, quality dental care for individuals who lack the developmental and cognitive ability to understand or cooperate for traditional dental treatment. Our patients include children and adults with disabilities such as:

• Autism
• Cerebral palsy
• Downs and other genetic syndromes
• Epilepsy
• Intellectual disability
• Physical disabilities such as deafness, vision impairment and paralysis
• Sensory Integration issues
• Many other developmental conditions

Our services include routine preventive care (i.e., exams, cleaning, fluoride treatments, radiographs), fillings, and simple extractions. Most of our patients can be successfully treated in our outpatient clinic, but some special cases may be treated in the operating room at Children's of Alabama.

What happens at a first appointment? 

A first dental appointment helps us get to know the patient and them get to know us. The special needs population often present unique health, communication, sensory and behavioral issues that need to be understood. We will ask that a patient and medical history form be completed. Copies can be download here if you wish to fill out ahead of time. A doctor will review these forms in a face-to-face consultation and will discuss how best to manage the dental exam. We will typically then clean the teeth, take diagnostic radiographs, and examine the mouth.

Social Story: If you would like to review with the patient ahead of time what will happen, please download our Sparks Dental Social Story. Some patients benefit from reviewing this picture-based story for several days prior to the dental appointment.

Forms: Our patients present unique and often complex medical histories. Our Patient and Medical History Forms provide the information we need to provide safe dental care. These forms are available as "fillable" PDFs that can be completed on a computer and emailed to us before your appointment. Please click on the link below, complete the form as directed, save it to your computer for your record and email the completed form to KeKe Cooper kncooper@uabmc.edu

• Patient History (Completed before the first appointment and updated as needed)
• Medical History (Completed before the first visit and every two years afterward)