Abstract
To assess the oral health behaviors of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and explore attitudes and barriers in providing oral care by their parents. A cross-sectional, mixed method study design, which comprised of quantitative and qualitative sections was conducted. The quantitative part assessed the oral health behavior through a parent-proxy report questionnaire whilst the qualitative part assessed parents’ overall perspective on maintenance of oral health in children with ASD through an in-depth interview using semi-structured questions. All children below the age of 16 who have been clinically diagnosed with ASD and registered at the Pediatric Dental Clinic were included. The sample consisted of twenty children with ASD. Most of the sample were male and between 5-8 years old. Majority had good oral health behaviors but some exhibited self-injurious behaviors that may affect oral health. Severe characteristics of ASD, co-morbid conditions and incompetent health professionals were reported as barriers in oral care by parents of these children. Despite having good oral health behaviors, several barriers and challenges were expressed by these parents with ASD when providing home oral care or bringing them for dental appointment. Continuous support for parents with ASD child by dental professionals is essential to help overcome the real challenges and barriers in providing oral care among these parents.
Highlights
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) cases are becoming more common since the last few decades due to the growing awareness of ASD among parents, clinicians and researchers
It is a spectrum of pervasive developmental disorders that consists of Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) [1]
ASD is characterized by three definite criteria; disability to carry out a reciprocal social interaction, impaired social communication of either verbal or non-verbal and repetitive interests or behavior [5]
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) cases are becoming more common since the last few decades due to the growing awareness of ASD among parents, clinicians and researchers. Most of them have impaired reciprocal social interaction with poor eye contact that cause difficulties for parents or dentists to provide oral care [5]. Their fine motor control is usually impaired, assistance from their parents or caregivers during tooth brushing is often required [8]. In order to suppress the ASD-related behaviors, some of these children are prescribed with antipsychotic medications that may cause dry mouth and gingival enlargement [8,10,11] Due to these circumstances, parents need to be motivated and be more attentive when providing oral care to ensure maintenance of oral health [7]. A quarter of these children liked to bite on soft object and a lower percentage liked to bite on hard objects and clench/grind their teeth
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