Dental caries and related risk factors in Saudi cerebral palsy children

To determine caries experience and related risk factors in cerebral palsy (CP) children.

Random sample of CP children was examined for dental caries and oral hygiene. Questionnaire was utilized for information about caries risk factors. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Riyadh from December 2014 to May 2015.

Fifty-two CP children were examined with mean age of 6.3+/-2.7 years. Only one (1.9%) child out of the 52 had no clinical caries. Combined (dmft plus DMFT) mean caries score among study sample was 9.98+/-3.99. Older children had significantly higher mean caries scores (11.5+/-3.34) than younger children (8.86+/-4.1, p=0.017). The CP children with good oral hygiene had lowest mean caries score (5.8+/-7.32) as compared to those with fair (9.72+/-3.3) and poor (11.55+/-3.05) oral hygiene (p=0.012). Those children whose first dental visit was for routine check-up had significantly (p=0.02) lower mean caries scores (7.33+/-4.65) than those who made their first visit due to dental problem (11.57+/-4.15). Similarly, those who had topical fluoride applications by dentist had significantly (p=0.003) lower mean caries scores (8.67+/-4.14) than those with no topical fluoride application (11.9+/-2.89).

The studied CP children had very high caries experience and poor oral hygiene. There was strong association between the high caries experience and poor oral hygiene.