The Hospital Dentistry Unit treats patients who are disabled or medically compromised and cannot or are refused dental services in other dental clinics or medical centers. These patients are referred from within the hospital or from outside referral medical and dental sources.
Our patients can be diagnosed under 5 major categories:
Communication and developmental problems (Mentally Retarded, Cerebral Palsy, Neuromuscular Deficiencies, Psychiatric or Emotionally Deficient etc.). These patients are treated either in conservative or sedative ways.
Medically compromised These are patients who suffer from a systemic disease, which manifests itself in the oral cavity, or its treatment inflicts on the normal oral conditions. Such as:
- Cardiac and respiratory conditions
- Bleeding Disorders like Hemophilia
- Oncology - patients undergoing Chemotherapy, Head and Neck Irradiation, Bone-Marrow Transplantation etc. These patients with low defense mechanism are in need of dental evaluation and treatment throughout their Oncology Therapy due to the high risk of developing secondary infections originating from the oral cavity
- Organ Transplantation - kidney, heart, lungs, liver etc.
- Other systemic problems
Dental and Facial Trauma -These are patients who suffered dental or facial Trauma mainly inflicting the primary and permanent dentition.
Dentophobic patients - These are patients who suffer from dental anxiety and are in a need of different ways of overcoming the anxiety - Hypnosis, Relative Sedation (Laughing Gas - Nitrous Oxide/Oxygen), Intravenous Sedation or general Anesthesia, use of laser technology.
Orthodontic needs - The patients treated in this clinic come from the following groups:
- Patients who suffer from Cleft Palate or other deformities and who are in a need for complimentary orthodontic treatment combined with the facial surgery.
- Patients who are planned for orthognathic surgery combined with orthodontic treatment.
- Patients diagnosed with mild to moderate mental retardation and neuromuscular deficiency that are in a need for orthodontic treatment. This population is unique in the sense that their facial esthetics sometimes dictates the person's social acceptance. Very few orthodontists are willing to treat these patients, and we are proud of our achievements with this group of special patients.
We provide the following dental treatments:
- Dental Restorative Treatment - restorations, endodontic, surgical.
- Orthodontic Treatment
- Prosthodontic Treatment - only in the afternoon clinic.
- Dental Hygienist service to all the high-risk medically compromised and disabled patients.
- Dental Treatment under general anesthesia for the normal, pediatric, young or anxious patient - in the afternoon clinic.
| Unit at a Glance |
| Number of Outpatients per Year - 2000 |
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Director - Dr. Meir Rakocz
Dr. Meir Rakocz was born in Paris in 1949 and immigrated to Israel in 1950. He completed his dental education in 1973 at the Faculty of Dentistry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
His post-graduate specialty studies in Pediatric Dentistry during 1978-1980 were done at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dental-Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
In 1981 he was appointed Assistant Professor at the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania.
Since 1982 he has been the director and founder of the Pediatric and Hospital Dental Division, at the Sheba Medical Center.
In 2001 he received his MHA (Masters in Health Administration) from the Recanati Business School, Tel Aviv University.
Dr. Rakocz is a past president of the Israeli society of Pediatric Dentistry.
He is an active Member of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) and Board certified of the AAPD, and is a member of the IADH council (International Association of Disability and Oral Health). |
| Address - The Marie and Felix Blumztejn (France) Oral and Maxillofacial Center |
| E-mail - Meir.Rakocz@sheba.health.gov.il |
| Tel - 972-3-530-2686 | |
