Abstract
The purpose of this survey was to investigate the actual status of the treatment for the disabled patients at the pediatric dentistry of a dental college hospital in an urban area. This survey was conducted with respect to the classification of disabilities, the age distribution, the referring institution, the status of the treatment and the behavioral management for disabled patients who visited the outpatient ward of a pediatric dentistry, Tokyo Dental College Suidobashi Hospital from April 2000 to June 2003 for 3 years and 3 mouths. During the period of the survey, the percentage of patients with disabilities in our clinic was 6.0%.
Many of the handicapped c hildren were treatable using usual dental management techniques.
The majority of the disabilities classified involved speech problems and functional mastication with disturbance of cleft lip and palate (40.5%), neuromuscular disease (28.1%) and emotional disturbance (13.0%).
About 50% involved patients 6 to less than 11 years of age.
Most of these patients were referred to from other depa rtment of Suidobashi Hospital, Tokyo Dental College.
A mong the rest of the cases of disabled patients treated, there were many cases that were treated with dental caries treatment (50.8%), dental caries prevention (27.2%), as well as undergoing surgical treatment (14.9%) and orthodontic treatment (6.0%).
