TOc accompany children with psycho-physical problems and disabilities to the dentist’s chair at the Molinette Dental School in Turin. They bring a smile to the children of the pediatric ward of theSan Raffaele Hospital in Milan. But also at the Ulss Pedemontana in Vicenza, at the Bambin Gesù in Rome and at the Istituto Besta in Milan. There Dog Therapy is conceived and promoted by For a Smile Onlus to give a moment of relief and distraction to children in care and their families. There are a total of 8 hospitals in which it is active the “Basta Una Zampa” project, in support of hospitalized children. And the results are encouraging.
Dog Therapy for children with disabilities
It happens for example at Dental School of Turin. Throughout 2023, twice a month, i Lagotto Romagnolo dogs and Golden Retrievers of the “Basta Una Zampa” project, accompanied by their IAA certified professional assistants (animal assisted interventions) from Smiles on 4 Paws, meet the boys and girls in the waiting room. It’s about patients suffering from psycho-physical problems and even serious disabilities, who are accompanied by the dogs “to the dentist’s chair” during dentistry sessions. Particularly special collaborators in the Dog Therapy sessions are the employees of Elanco, one of the world’s leading companies in animal health, who can take part in the days on a voluntary basis to give their contribution.
That of the four-legged companions is a friendly participation: they involve the children in play activities and distract them. But deep down their mere presence is enough to significantly reduce anxiety while waiting of dental and post-session treatments.
The dentist’s chair is no longer scary
«Those who need it can then be accompanied to the dentist’s chair and stay together with the patient during the therapies», explains Elio Berutti, director of the Dental School. The benefits of Dog Therapy are obvious, both for children and their familieswhich thanks to the proposed activities can experience moments of lightness and detachment, allowing the medical-hospital staff to operate in a situation of less tension.
«Something special always happens when a child meets a four-legged friend»
As Ludovica Vanni, President and Founding Partner of For a Smile Onlus explains, «Activity with dogs gives children sense of protection in a phase dominated by uncertainty, it diverts attention from the hospital environment, strengthens complicity, increases trust in operators sanitary, helps to develop a verbal and non-verbal language in communication and constitutes an indisputable relief valve while waiting. And something special always happens when a child meets a four-legged friend».
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