GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF DENTAL STATUS IN CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Abstract

Dental status in children with special needs is an important part of their overall health and development. Children with various forms of disability may have specific dental diseases and their course due to physical, cognitive or emotional characteristics, which requires a comprehensive approach to diagnosis and treatment. These children may have various physical or mental disorders that affect their oral health. Purpose of the study. Study of dental status and its structural analysis in children with special needs. Material and research methods. We examined 37 patients with special needs (autism, Down and Angelman syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, phenylketanuria with mental retardation) aged 3 to 18 years, who applied for advice and treatment at the Department of Pediatric Dentistry of DDMU. All patients underwent a clinical examination with the collection of Anamnesis of the disease, studied the condition of hard tissues of the teeth and periodontal tissues according to the index assessment. Research results and their discussion. We studied and analyzed the frequency of occurrence and prevalence of pathological processes in the oral cavity in children with special needs. The structure of detected dental diseases in the examined contingent of children is characterized by a wide range of changes in the organs and tissues of the oral cavity. Analysis of digital data on dental morbidity in children with special needs has shown that the most common pathology is caries, non-carious lesions of the hard tissues of the teeth and periodontal inflammatory diseases. All examined children with special needs were found to have a predisposition to various inflammatory diseases of the periodontium, oral mucosa and lips. Thus, almost all children with special needs, regardless of the type of underlying disease, have chronic catarrhal gingivitis. Conclusions. Studies and analysis of the structure of dental pathology, namely, the study of the state of hard tissues of teeth, periodontal, oral mucosa, tongue, joint and bite showed a high level of prevalence of damage to these tissues among children with special needs. This causes, in turn, the need to find new approaches to solving this problem, develop new treatment and preventive measures for this contingent of children.