Factors Associated with Incidence of Dental Caries in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Adaptation to tooth brushing is more difficult for certain children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than for children with typical development. Some ASD children are partial to sweets and insist on such foods. Therefore, it is often difficult to prevent dental caries. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the incidence of dental caries and factors related to dietary and tooth brushing habits for 4- or 5-year-old ASD children. As a result, the incidence of caries was found to be associated with the number of times of eating between meals, presence of eating after dinner, regularity of eating between meals, frequency of eating sweet food, insistence on foods, partiality toward sweets because of insistence on foods, adaptation to tooth brushing, and sensitivity to touch stimulation (Kruskal-Wallis test). Moreover, by the Type II Quantification Method using these items as explanatory variables, the incidence of caries was highly correlated with number of times of eating between meals, and the severity of dental caries was highly correlated with adaptation to tooth brushing, number of times of eating between meals, and insistence on foods. These results suggest that the management of eating between meals is important to prevent dental caries in ASD children as well as children with typical development. Furthermore, measures to prevent the progression of dental caries, such as shortening the periods between examinations, are needed when ASD children have difficulty adapting to tooth brushing or insist on foods.