Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess dental treatment needs (TNs) and related risk factors of children with disabilities (CD). This cross-sectional study recruited 484 CD, 6 to 12 years of age, from 10 special education schools in Taiwan. Dental status and TNs were examined and evaluated by well-trained dentists and based on the criteria set by the World Health Organization (1997). The results indicated that 61.78% required restorative dental treatment due to their dental caries. On average, each participant had 2.72 teeth that required treatment, and 6.38 surfaces required restoration. One-quarter of the participants (24.79%) required 1- or 2-surface restoration, and one out of three (36.98%) had more complex TNs (including 3 or more surfaces to be filled, pulp care, extraction, and more specialized care). The significant risk factors associated with restorative TNs among CD were those whose parents had lower socioeconomic status, frequent sweets intake, insufficient tooth-brushing ability, and poor oral health. Most of the CD had extensive unmet TNs for their caries and required complex treatment to recover the function of their teeth. Encouraging parents/caregivers to take their children for dental treatment, promoting awareness of the importance of dental hygiene, giving assistance to brushing their teeth after eating, and controlling and/or modifying sweet diet habits are necessary to reduce CD’s dental caries, especially those with lower socioeconomic status parents/caregivers.
Highlights
People with disabilities usually suffer from a significantly higher prevalence of poor dental hygiene, plaque accumulation, dental caries, gingivitis, and periodontal disease than the ordinary population, and it gets worse with increasing age [1,2,3,4,5,6]
We found that children with HVD had the highest treatment needs (TNs) of teeth (3.48 ± 3.74) and surfaces (8.89 ± 11.57) compared to children with vision disability (VD) (1.87 ± 2.87 and 4.14 ± 8.59) (p = 0.023 and p = 0.030)
The children with mild/moderate disabilities or with HVD had a statistically significantly higher decayed teeth and surfaces need for dental treatment than those with the other severities of disabilities or classifications of disabilities (p = 0.017 and p = 0.016)
Summary
People with disabilities usually suffer from a significantly higher prevalence of poor dental hygiene, plaque accumulation, dental caries, gingivitis, and periodontal disease than the ordinary population, and it gets worse with increasing age [1,2,3,4,5,6]. According to Healthy People 2010 in the USA, secondary conditions refer to the problems related to medical, social, emotional, family, or community problems that a person with a primary disabling condition may encounter in his/her life [8]. It often aggravates and/or lessens their life quality in terms of physical, psychosocial, and social functions and increases the burden of health care on their parents, family members, or other caregivers with limited resources. Secondary conditions often cause significant limitations, including reading difficulties, communication, physical fitness–conditioning, personal hygiene–appearance, weight, dental and oral hygiene, and memory problems [9]. Dental and oral hygiene is one of the significant limitations which is caused by secondary conditions
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