Abstract
We made an investigation into the oral findings of the first examination and of our dental care of 176 handicapped children (105 boys,71 girls), ranging from 1 to 18 years of age, who were reffered to our pedodontic outpatient clinic for treatment, during the period 1969 to 1982. They had been cared for in institutions with no dentists or in their own homes. We classified them into the MR Only Group, the Epilepsy Group, the CP Group, the Autism Group, the Blood Disease Group and the Other Group, according to their main disorder. The results were as follows.
The average age of the subjects in the first examination was 6 years and 5months, and it was the same in each group classified. There was no significant difference in the number of subjects among those groups. As for sex distribution, the Blood Disease Group and the Autism Group had more boys, but the CP Group included more girls.
The decayed tooth rate of the primaly teeth showed a gradual increase as with the increase in age, as it was 72.3 per cent at the age of 5, and 100 per cent in cases over 13 years of age. Among each group, only the Blood Disease Group showed a significantly low rate. Among the permanent teeth, the decayed tooth rate showed an increase at the eruption of the first and second molar.
In the first examination, the filled tooth rate showed a particularly low rate among children under six years of age, and it was under 1 per cent among the primary teeth. It suggested that they had not had much dental treatment before admission to school.
With regard to the degree of the caries, C2 was the greatest number among primary teeth and permanent teeth together, and C4 was the next great number among the primary teeth.
In our treatment, composite resin and inlay were commonly used for restration among primary teeth and permanent teeth. The rate of endodontic treatment among the treated teeth was 7 per cent. The pulpectomy and root canal treatment occupied 70 per cent.
Concerning oral anomaly, except for dental caries, a significant difference in frequency of appearance was not found among each group.
