Caries levels among autistic children in Khartoum State, Sudan. A step towards improving the well-being of less fortunate children

Abstract

Objectives: To determine caries levels among autistic children and compare it to that of non-autistic children.Methodology: It is a cross-sectional comparative study; that compared autistic and non-autistic children. The data was collected from autism centers and private schools in Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman. With sample size of 132, 44 autistic children, 88 non autistic children. Data was collected using interviews of the children's parents/guardian and oral clinical examination to assess dental caries using the Decayed-Missed-Filled Teeth index (DMFT). Results:The prevalence of caries in the autistic group was 23(72.7%) and that of the non-autistic group was 73(83.0%). The mean DMFT of the non-autistic group was higher than that of the autistic group, 4.59 and 3.09 respectively. The difference between the two groups was significant (p=0.018). Conclusion:The results of our study showed that the mean DMFT among autistic group was significantly lower than that of the non-autistic group. We suggest that this may be due to the lower sweet intake, more help received with teeth brushing and dental insurance among the autistic group. There was no significant difference in the prevalence and severity of dental caries among the autistic and non-autistic group.

Oral Health Status of Children with Autism in Central Italy

“…No study of this type is available for Italy. This work is meant as a first step in this direction and it is in line with similar works performed for other countries [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

“…Finally, while some authors have reported that caries experience in children with ASD is comparable or even less severe than in control groups [20][21][22][23]26,37], others [13] suggest a worsening of caries experience associated with ASD. In our case, a rigorous comparison is not possible.…”

“…Normal daily activities, such as tooth brushing as well as understanding the behavior of other individuals, constitute a constant challenge for children affected by ASD [13][14][15][16][17][18]. Several studies indicate that, due to these difficulties in maintaining good oral hygiene and being periodically examined and eventually treated, children with ASD have significantly more untreated caries and a higher prevalence of periodontitis and gingivitis as well as higher values of the total number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth in the primary dentition and in the permanent dentition (denoted by DMFT/dmft) compared to the average population [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. In addition, dental care, for patients with moderate or slight intellectual disorders, requires special procedures and adaptations [28].…”

The association of cariogenic foods consumption frequency on the occurrence of dental caries in children with autism spectrum disorders

“…4 Nonong et al, found (82.6%) ASD children in their study have strong preference to cariogenic foods and (52.17%) they consumed cariogenic foods three times a day or more. 27 Difference in research findings could be due to disproportionate sample size, differences in research instruments, and differences in parenting patterns. 28 Table 2 shows that the DMFT and deft indices of ASD children are at a moderate level.…”