[Orthodontic treatment of children suffering from attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD)]

Successful orthodontic treatment requires the child's cooperation. Yet how can this be achieved when this cooperation is compromised by a neurobehavioural disorder: the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? This disorder, slightly tracked down, common in children, leads to hyperactivity, impulsiveness and a short attention span. The objective of this survey is to compare the challenges of conducting orthodontic treatment on children who have or have not been diagnosed and treated by a multi-disciplinary medical team. The data of this survey was collected from orthodontists in Paris and Strasbourg, and from graduate orthodontics students. The orthodontic treatment of 30 children (25 males and 5 females) between 8 and 15 years, affected by ADHD (half have been diagnosed and treated by a multi-disciplinary team) are compared to 30 control subjects. The results highlight the therapeutic difficulties (with behavior, attention span, cooperation, hygiene and dental trauma) encountered with children affected by ADHD (especially those who did not benefit from multidisciplinary follow up) compared to control population. In conclusion, hyperactive children present more challenges during an orthodontic treatment compared to a control population. Nevertheless, the treatment is easier when children are diagnosed and treated multimodally. Further studies are required on a wider population to confirm the differences in therapeutic difficulties.