Incidence of oral health in paediatric patients with disabilities: Sensory disorders and autism spectrum disorder. Systematic review II

INTRODUCTION We are currently witnessing an increase in the number of disabled patients, creating the need for knowledge of each of the pathologies and of the different oral and dental conditions they present, in order to achieve efficient management and treatment. OBJECTIVES To analyse the existing scientific literature on the oral conditions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with sensory deficits (SD), in comparison with the healthy child population. MATERIAL AND METHODS The bibliographic search was carried out in Pubmed/Medline, Scopus and Cochrane Library and included articles taking a sample of children between 0 and 18 years of age diagnosed with the abovementioned disorders and including at least one of the following oral hygiene conditions - oral hygiene, dental caries, malocclusion, oral habits, dental trauma, and gingival-periodontal status - comparing them with a healthy population. RESULTS A total of 10 articles were obtained for autism spectrum disorder and six for sensory deficits. CONCLUSIONS Of all the variables studied, only the state of oral, gingival and/or periodontal hygiene can be considered worse in patients with ASD and SD, although we believe a larger number of research studies is needed to corroborate these results. KEY WORDS Oral health, dental caries, malocclusion, oral habits, dental trauma, oral hygiene, disabled child, autism, autism spectrum disorder, deaf, blind.