The Oral Health of 6-15 Year Old Special Needs Children in Baghdad

Abstract

Objectives: To provide a critical review of the current evidence that implicates special needs as a risk factor for dental caries, relating to different special needs types and their effect on oral hygiene. Design: qualitative research. Setting: Mainly hospital-based patients or subjects. Outcome measures: The relationship between special needs and dental caries and gingivitis. Results: The prevalence of dental caries and oral hygiene status were assessed in 496 special needs children aged 6-15 years, attending 7 special needs institutes in Baghdad. The effect of different types of special needs condition or oral hygiene and dental caries was also evaluated. On the basis of the finding, it was concluded that a high proportion of carious lesion were untreated in all ages the F component was less than 20%. The prevalence of gingivitis was high, over 85% of the children were affected, with poor level of oral hygiene increasing by age. The only significant trends to emerge from the different handicap types were that those with impaired hearing and communication problems had much better oral hygiene. Conclusion: The relationship linking dental caries and gingivitis with poor oral hygiene and in special types of special needs children is relatively strong.