Virtual Health & Wellness Forum – Smiles United

Click HERE to register for the June Forum

Join us for a presentation about a great resource – Smiles United! The Touro College of Dental Medicine Smiles United project aims to diminish the barriers to treatment individuals with IDD face in their access to care by virtually connecting group homes and caregivers with our team of compassionate oral health care providers. The Smiles United model of support will effectively provide quality oral health care to people with IDD by presenting to group homes and their caregivers through educational videos as well as live virtual sessions and other resources. This offering is for Individuals with IDD, Caregivers (DSPs), Family members, and Healthcare Professionals. We hope to make an impact on the dental health of all with IDD by sharing this information!

This forum will be recorded and posted to our website for viewing after the live offering is complete.

Speaker Bios:

Dr. Raquel Rozdolski is a board-certified dentist anesthesiologist. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Dental Medicine, the Director of Anesthesia and Pain Control and Co-Director of the Special Needs Dentistry Fellowship at the Touro College of Dental Medicine (TCDM). 

As TCDM’s dedicated anesthesia provider, Dr. Rozdolski oversees all procedures requiring sedation, bringing her expertise and years of experience to each case. She also provided sedation at the Rose F. Kennedy Center, for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Dr. Rozdolski also serves on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and is on the medical staff of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at The Mount Sinai Hospital where she serves an anesthesiology attending. 

Dr. Rozdolski is incredibly active and passionate about organized dentistry and currently serves as the regional Chair of the NYS Dental Health Planning and Hospital Dentistry Committee and serves on the NYS Medicaid Committee.  At a local level, she serves on the Board of Governors for the Ninth District Dental Association and is a Delegate for the Ninth District.  She is an active member on the OPWDD Task Force for Special Dentistry in NYS. Deeply passionate about bridging the gap in access to care faced by those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), Dr. Rozdolski spearheaded the Smiles United project at TCDM, an innovative virtual model of care which aims to diminish the barriers to treatment individuals with IDD face in their access to care. 

Susan DiSenso, DDS:

Dr. DiSenso is Director of Special Needs at Touro College of Dental Medicine (TCDM) at New York Medical College (NYMC). She joined the college in the spring of its opening year as an instructor of gross anatomy and head and neck anatomy for the inaugural class. At the time, she was also practicing at the Westchester Institute for Human Development (WIHD), an article 28 clinic dedicated to providing comprehensive and continued dental care to persons with disabilities and remains in close collaboration. With experience in dental care for patients with intellectual, developmental and acquired disabilities, she developed TCDM’s special care dental education program and serves as Course Director of Oral Health Care for Patients with Special Needs Rotation, the result of Dr. DiSenso collaborative efforts in establishing an affiliation between TCDM and WIHD. The rotation provides dental students with a unique educational experience to work with individuals with developmental disabilities and their dental providers.

Dr. DiSenso sits on the New York Academic Dental Centers (NYSADC) Fellowship Advisory Committee, where she assisted in developing the NYSADC Fellowship and Scholarship Programs to Address Oral Health Disparities, supporting a Fellow at each NYS dental school for training in special care dentistry. She is co-Director of the NYSADC Fellowship at TCDM. She also is co-architect and manager of the TCDM Special Care Dentistry Continuing Education Series with support from NYS OPWDD Task Force on Special Dentistry, a free live webinar series for multidisciplinary guest speakers to lecture on various challenges and opportunities in the care of individuals with intellectual, developmental, and acquired disabilities.  

In addition to her teaching responsibilities at TCDM, Dr. DiSenso is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy in the School of Medicine at NYMC. 

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The Special Olympics New York Virtual Health & Wellness Forums are a space for individuals with ID, families, caregivers and coaches to engage with health-focused individuals/organizations such as Healthcare Providers and Fitness Specialists. The Forums provide information and resources related to the health of Special Olympics athletes, while also focusing on bettering access to health care, education and inclusive activities for people with intellectual disabilities.  Often, the health struggles that those with ID face are directly related to the lack of education and resources available to the population and their caregivers.  We aim to cover topical issues that our community wishes to learn more about, and in turn positively impact the health of people with ID across the State. 

Forums are presentation based with the opportunity to submit questions to the speaker.  Participants are asked to register with the Zoom links below.  Recordings will be available to view on our website after the live presentation is complete! The Special Olympics New York Virtual Health & Wellness Forums are sponsored by Care Design New York & Partners Health Plan.