Oral health in children and adolescents with special healthcare needs in South Africa: A narrative review

Abstract

Children and adolescents with special healthcare needs (CWSHCN) may experience disproportionately poorer general and oral health than healthy children.1-3 They are more at risk of common conditions such as dental caries and gingivitis resulting from poor oral health.4 They comprise of children and youth “with or at risk of chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions”,5 including, inter alia, intellectual disability (ID), cerebral palsy (CP), learning disability (LD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), hearing impairment (HI), Down Syndrome (DS), physical disabilities (PD), visual impairments (VI) and epilepsy (EP). Globally, the prevalence of disabilities is increasing, even in developing countries such as South Africa (SA), resulting in a greater burden on healthcare systems.6