Oral health in visually impaired patients: a literature review.

Abstract

Even though oral diseases are highly prevalent in people with visual impairment (VI) and this population faces access barriers to dental services and is exposed to risk factors that increase their vulnerability, the existing literature on oral health in this population is scarce. To conduct a literature review in order to describe studies on oral health in persons with VI and provide health care professionals who treat and educate these patients with relevant information. This is a literature review with a descriptive approach. A total of 26 original articles were included. The selected studies were published in the last six years (2014-March 2020) in English, Portuguese, and Spanish. The search was conducted in the Virtual Health Library, SciELO, PubMed, Scopus, and Clinical Key databases. Keywords combined with Boolean operators "AND" and "OR" were used. Few studies address the use of dental services by people with VI. There is evidence of poor levels of knowledge on oral health and related practices, which increases vulnerability to risk factors for developing diseases compared to the general population. Caries and periodontal disease are reported as the most prevalent oral diseases. Health promotion and education intervention should involve parents, caregivers, and guardians to increase the success rate. People with VI may develop oral diseases easily; therefore, they require dental care and health promotion interventions adapted to their needs.