Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show worse oral health than their peers. Their access to health services is, at present, inadequate: few high-quality interventions have been designed and implemented to improve their care procedures so far. The purpose of this study is to describe an experience of dental care supported by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), for children with ASD in a public health service. In our study, 59 children (mean age 9.9 years; SD = 5.43) participated in the MyDentist project. It integrates classic dental care techniques with new practices for desensitization and fear control, delivered through an enhanced customized ICT-based intervention aiming at familiarizing the child with ASD with the medical setting and procedures. Two questionnaires were filled out by parents to describe the acceptability of the MyDentist experience for their children. Significant results were shown from T0 (before initiating MyDentist) to T1 (after 6 months of the MyDentist experience) regarding improved oral hygiene and cooperation during dental treatments. Families positively assessed the use of ICT support. In conclusion, the project demonstrated acceptability by parents, suggesting that public health dental care and prevention can be successfully implemented without resorting to costly pharmacological interventions (with potential side effects), taking better care of children’s health.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe multifactorial disorder characterized by an umbrella of specific symptoms in the areas of social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors [1].The incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is worldwide and recent epidemiological data estimated it to be 1/54 in UnitedStates and 1/87 in Italy [2,3]
The aim of this paper is to describe the first results of the project MyDentist, an in-the-field experience of dental care for children with ASD in an Italian public health service, with the support of a web application that includes various digital materials, which can be personalized for each patient
Networking between families, caregivers and health providers should be activated with the aim of making everyone aware of the dental health problems that children with autism have to face [13,58,59]
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe multifactorial disorder characterized by an umbrella of specific symptoms in the areas of social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors [1].The incidence of ASD is worldwide and recent epidemiological data estimated it to be 1/54 in UnitedStates and 1/87 in Italy [2,3]. There is no specific relationship between ASD and oral disease, it is well-recognized that many individuals with ASD have much worse oral health than non-autistic people [5,6,7,8,9,10]. This may be related to barriers to dental services, sensory sensitivities and heightened levels of stress and anxiety during care; these factors may affect the level of cooperation of individuals with ASD in regard to daily hygiene routines, oral exams, and dental care [11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. The presence of comorbid self-injurious behaviors, poor oral care at home and specific dietary habits that can favor tooth decay should be considered [17,18]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
