Prevalence of drooling in children with cerebral palsy attending special schools

Abstract

Prevalence of drooling in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and its severity across dental age (i.e. children with primary, mixed, and permanent dentitions) was investigated. One hundred and sixty children and adolescents (91 males, 69 females; mean age 10 years 10 months, SD 4 years 2 months; range 4 to 18 years) with CP who attended special schools were involved in this study. Sixty eight per cent of participants had spastic CP with the majority (45%) diagnosed as having quadriplegia. Presence or absence of drooling was determined by direct observation of the participants. Other data, such as age, sex, learning disability*, and type of CP were collected using questionnaires. Results showed 93 of 160 children (58%) with CP had a drooling condition and of these 53 (33%) had severe drooling. It was found that the degree of drooling decreased as the child's dental age increased. Prevalence of drooling in children with primary dentition was found to be 75% as compared with 43% of those with permanent dentition, although this difference was not statistically significant. It was concluded that any invasive treatment to reduce drooling should, perhaps, be postponed until the child's oromusculature has matured.

Social interaction and self-esteem of children with cerebral palsy after treatment for severe drooling

“…Parents of 1437 children with CP reported that 34% sometimes found drooling to be a problem, while 16% responded that it was often a problem [1]. This percentage was even higher among CP children attending special schools: 58% (93 of 160) children, aged 4-18 years, drooled; 33% (53/160), drooled severely [12].…”

Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in Children

“…2 Chronic aspiration may be further complicated by the presence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and drooling, which are present in more than 50% of cases. 32,33 Drooling is secondary to impaired volitional movements whereas posterior salivation causes recurrent aspiration and subsequent pulmonary infections. 34 Other common static conditions include Arnold-Chiari and central arteriovenous malformations, which may be present with only subtle clinical evidence of OPD.…”

Drooling

“…Tahmassebi and Curzon [3] report that 58% of children with CP suffer from drooling, of which 33% have severe drooling. Crysdale [4] estimates that 10-15% of children with CP have significant drooling.…”