[An epidemiological study on dental caries in handicapped children]

In order to find the prevalence of dental caries and physique in handicapped children, 5 schools for physically handicapped or mentally retarded children in Fukuoka city were examined. The subject was 430 handicapped children (283 boys and 147 girls) aged 6-14 years. As control data, the same aged children in the report on the survey of school health in 1986 (National survey) were used in relation to the physique of handicapped children. In addition, the same aged 338 normal children were compared with 80 handicapped as to the degree of their flat feet. The report on the survey of dental diseases in 1981 (National survey) was adopted to compare with dental caries of the handicapped. The results were shown as follows: 1. Concerning the growth of constitution, height, weight and girth of the chest in handicapped children were lower than the values in the National survey. 2. The rate of children with flat feet in the handicapped children was more than that of normal children, and the rate of serious cases was outstanding in the former. 3. The prevalence of dental caries of deciduous and permanent teeth in handicapped children was lower than that in normal children. But the rate of difference was plausible due to the decrease of dental caries with the increase in age. 4. The average number of present teeth in handicapped children was lower than that in the normal children in the National survey. The eruption time was delayed from 6 months to 1 year in handicapped children. 5. The consideration was done to clarify the cause of the lower incidence of dental caries from the view point of the delay of the teeth eruption time in handicapped children when compared with normal children.