The provision of primary dental care for patients with special needs.

The Community Dental Service (CDS) has increasingly become associated with providing primary dental care for those people who are unable to access care by the usual means. The work reported here examines the provision of primary dental care by using the notion of a dental service continuum to demonstrate that in the treatment of patients with special needs the CDS acts as a safety net service. One hundred and twenty-four General Dental Service (GDS) practices and 33 CDS practices took part in the survey. The results suggest that both services provide primary dental care for a wide range of patients with special needs. Dentists in the GDS and CDS treat and care for different populations of patients with special needs. It is proposed that a continuum of service provision exists.