The pediatric dentistry for patients with disabilities
Written in association with:In the following article, the dental specialist Dr.. Sanjuan LB Martin Dental Clinic, explains the odonopediatria in patients with disabilities.
¿That care will have a child with a disability
?The care must receive a child with a disability does not differ from that does not have. Behavior management is more complicated with these patients. In patients with disabilities and no partner is necessary to be referred to a specialist dentist for checkups that MUST be periodic.
¿That way the patient is depending on the type of disability
?The way to treat the patient through the behavior management. There are patients with disabilities and good collaboration that do not require special monitoring. For example, we can fit the majority of patients with Down syndrome. Patients with poor collaboration, most patients with severe autism spectrum disorders, for example, require great patience and control of the situation by professionals. In these cases we can help with pictograms.
¿Since fear is the dentist in these patients
?Dental fear, dental phobia is diagnosed and classified within psychiatric diagnostic manuals. So not only exists, but that causes a panic as to incapacitate the patient for collaboration in a traditional dental office. For these patients there are alternative dental treatment with sedation or general anesthesia.
¿, it is always necessary to require anesthesia or sedation
?Sedation or general anesthesia will be necessary only in those in which are ruled all previous scale measures behavior management. And this is so because they are treatments that are not without risk and therefore the indication should be the most appropriate and individualizing each case.
¿There is some kind of disability which has consequences on the teeth of children
?There are multiple syndromes that can affect tooth eruption as well as the morphology and composition of the teeth, causing delays in the eruption, caries, periodontal disease, bone - tooth malpositions and malformations, maxillary compression, mandibular advancement, maxillary delays, crowding, etc.
¿, there a common pathology in children with disabilities
?Cavities and gum disease as well as malocclusions are common to most of these kids and has to do, in addition to their genetic predisposition, with inadequate dental hygiene and a diet with refined sugars. So the good news is that most of these patients dental problems are preventable with periodic reviews on the specialist dentist, diet free of refined sugars and proper dental hygiene.