Dental Survey of Institutionalized Children with Autistic Disorder

The objective of this study was to assess the oral hygiene practices, dietary pattern, dental caries status and needs of institutionalized autistic children. The sample consisted of 35 children (28 males and 7 females) in the age group of 5 to 10 years from two institutions in Maharashtra, India. The parents of the children were interviewed regarding oral hygiene practices of their respective ward and instructed to maintain a 4-day diet chart for their children. A clinical examination was conducted using WHO dentition status and treatment needs index and a simplified oral hygiene index for ages 4 to 6 years and 7 to 10 years (deciduous and mixed dentition) was used to assess the oral hygiene. The results of diet chart analysis according to Nizel AE and Papas AS score showed the ‘at meal’ sugar exposure close to nil, while the ‘in between’ meal sugar exposure was observed to be more than three times per day among maximum children. The oral hygiene status was poor with abundance of soft debris and fair calculus accumulation. The mean caries experience (deft) in these children was 6.4. The present study provided baseline data which has been used for planning a comprehensive oral health care program. How to cite this article: Chadha GM, Kakodkar P, Chaugule V, Nimbalkar V. Dental Survey of Institutionalized Children with Autistic Disorder. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2012;5(1):29-32.