Oral Health Characteristics of Preschool Children with Autistic Syndrome Disorder

Abstract

autistic children have a relative age of one half, meaning they function at half the level of normally developed children at their chronological age, more eating problems and more persistent oral habits yet no correlation to dental health could be shown. Caries experience of autistic children was lower than in the control group, maintaining good oral hygiene is difficult for autistic children yet their gingival health was found to be good.

Oral health status of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The initial search from online electronic databases yielded 2393 records, and 1629 remained after removal of duplications. The screening of titles and abstracts resulted in 76 potentially eligible studies, among which 39 eligible studies (reported from 41 articles) were identified and formed the basis of qualitative analysis (24 studies assessed dental plaque, 21 studies assessed gingival or periodontal status, and 32 studies assessed caries status). Twenty‐six studies were suitable for meta‐analysis (12 studies on dental plaque, 8 on periodontal status, and 23 on caries).…”

“…Twenty‐four studies assessed the severity of dental plaque accumulation using the following indices: the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (16 studies), Plaque Index of Silness and Löe (five studies), Patient Hygiene Performance Index of Podshadley and Haley (one study), Visible Plaque Index of Ainamo and Bay (one study), oral hygiene partial scoring modification described by Ramfjord (one study), and an unspecific oral hygiene index (one study) (Table SIII, online supporting information).…”

“…The difference in dental caries experience between children with and without intellectual disabilities was evaluated based on 32 studies . Diagnoses of caries in these studies were mainly performed in compliance with World Health Organization criteria.…”

“…However, conflicting evidence exists about the oral health status of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Although several studies have found poorer oral health status among these populations, other studies have observed that children with intellectual disabilities exhibited fewer caries, less dental plaque deposition, and better gingival condition than children without intellectual disabilities . The issue is further complicated by claims that caries experience and oral hygiene status among children with intellectual disabilities are similar to children without intellectual disabilities.…”

“…Children with intellectual disabilities have been reported to have more obstacles in daily tooth brushing than healthy children. This might be due to their difficulty in achieving the required manual dexterity for self‐care and lack of awareness of the importance of oral hygiene practice . Poor oral health status among them has been noted.…”