Share Your Story
From the beginning of human history, storytelling has played a fundamental role in sharing knowledge, connecting people, and being a catalyst for change.
We want to share stories from people living with disabilities, caregivers and oral health care providers. Stories must be related to oral health care. They can be about challenges you faced, compassionate people who provided care, or life lessons that changed your perspective or altered your path. Our goal is to influence and inspire others to action, to hope, to change . . .
To contribute a story, please use the “Contact Us” form in the top right corner. We will share as many of your stories as we can.
In this compelling video, parents and care givers of adults living with developmental disabilities describe the unique challenges of accessing oral health care during the transition from paediatric care to adult care.
Dr. Clive Friedman shares a story about one of his most embarrassing and important lessons that shaped, early on, who he is as a dentist.
“One year into a paediatric post grad program I was given a 15-year-old patient to treat. He was in a wheelchair, one of the old-style ones that has no additional supports and does not tilt. He was sitting in it in what I would describe as a bundle of acute angles. I was unable to understand his speech as it was completely garbled, and his hands and feet were flailing in every direction. I first spoke to his parent (major error) and then to him with a child voice and diction, thinking he had no idea of what I was saying. I was totally oblivious. Then I happened to look down, and in his lap was a book. “The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. If I had a mirror, I am sure my face had lost all its colour; I felt like a complete idiot. This young boy likely had an IQ well above my own. I apologized and shared how stupid I felt.
I am so grateful that this happened to me early in my career and it totally shaped my future journey. Perhaps that is a story for another day. “