Dental Health Status of Children and Adolescent with Special Health Care Needs

The aim of this study was to assess the dental caries experience, of children and adolescent with special health care needs. The study entailed the clinical examination of 86 children and adolscent, between 6 and 19 years old, who were attending special school in Prishtina, Kosovo. The children with special health care needs were grouped in four types of disabilities: Mental Retardation, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Autistic Disorder. DMFT index (Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth) was used to record the dental status; only permanent dentitions was considered Carries examination were carried out in accordance with WHO criteria. The Results: showed that prevalence of caries was very high (95%), only five children were without caries. Mean DMFT for all participants was around 5.92±3.76. Level of treated teeth was very low (8%), extracted teeth was 10%, while number of decayed teeth was (82%). Cerebral Palsy group had the highest DMFT scores (7.9±4.6) compared with other types of disabilities. Children in this study had a high prevalence of dental caries and it is associated with high rate of untreated teeth. The treatment needs are extremely high in all groups of children with disabilities. It is important for the dentist to focus on a preventive approach and provide proper dental education to parents of children and adolescent with special health care needs. They would benefit from parental education on diet modification, improvement of oral hygiene practices and regular dental visits. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2018; 11(3): 945-949)

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