There are only 29 special needs dentists in Australia. Seven of them work in NSW. And 1.4 million Australians with profound or severe disabilities depend on someone else to brush their teeth.

In this episode of The Dental Practitioner, host Dr Cathleen Dong sits down with Dr Zanab Malik — special needs dentist, researcher, and founder of the AI-powered oral health app My Special Needs Dental Home — to unpack a specialty that most dentists have never fully encountered.

Zanab shares her journey from general practice and paediatric dentistry into one of the country’s smallest and most demanding specialties, what a day in her life actually looks like, and why she believes every general dentist is already seeing patients with special needs whether they realise it or not.

She also discusses the findings of her PhD into weight stigma in the dental setting, the critical importance of person-first language, and the practical steps any practice can take tomorrow to become more inclusive.

Topics covered: what special needs dentistry actually is and who it serves, the path to specialisation, general dentistry skills as a foundation, the education gap for new graduates, day-in-the-life of a specialist, PhD research on weight stigma, person-first language, practical inclusion strategies, bariatric dentistry and chair weight limits, and the AI app designed to close the access gap.

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