The Association of Oral Hygiene Habits with the Incidence of Dental Caries in Autistic Spectrum Disorder Children Who Were Managed from a Young Age

Abstract

Oral hygiene management from a young age is important, but children who started management from a young age do not necessarily grow up without developing dental caries. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the incidence of dental caries during the management period and factors related to oral hygiene habits, developmental age, and characteristics of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) for ASD children who started oral hygiene management from 3 years of age. The management period was until 6 years of age. As a result, the incidence of dental caries was associated with adaptation to tooth brushing. Moreover, adaptation to tooth brushing was associated with the sensitivity to sense of touch stimulation and the developmental age based on item analysis. Thus, ASD children who are sensitive to touch stimulation or have a low developmental age have difficulty adapting to tooth brushing, and therefore often develop dental caries. These results suggest that careful oral hygiene management is needed when ASD children have difficulty adapting to tooth brushing. For children who are sensitive to touch stimulation or have a low developmental age, measures to prevent dental caries, such as reinforcement of professional care, are needed because of their difficulty adapting to tooth brushing.