Getting dental care can be a challenge for people with disabilities

Lindsay Klecker has her teeth cleaned by Beth Rown, a dental hygenist who cares for patients with special needs. (Photo by Alison Kodjak/NPR)
At the Marshfield Clinic dental center in Chippewa Falls, Wis., hygienist Karen Aslinger is getting her room ready. It’s all quite routine — covering the chair’s headrest with plastic, opening instruments, wiping down trays.
But then she starts getting creative.
“My next patient is pretty tiny and frail, so I like to go to oral surg