Prevalence of oral disease and treatment types proposed to children affected by Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Pediatric Dentistry: a Systematic Review

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of dental caries and periodontal disease in children with ASD, and to analyse the necessity of treatment and the prevalence of using general anaesthesia in order to perform it.

Materials and methods: A search was performed covering the last 10 years utilising the following databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Medline, BASE, Science Citation Index, Science Direct, Web of Science. Four reviewers evaluated each study. Review findings were summarised using the PRISMA Statement for reporting. Thirteen articles were included in this systematic review.

Results: When analysing the articles selected, the evidence turned out did not show a common DFMT and dmft for the groups of children affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder considered. When compared to group of unaffected children, groups of ASD children not always showed a higher prevalence of caries but always higher Periodontal Indexes (PI and GI), resulting in higher prevalence of periodontal disease. Where the treatment was performed and taken into consideration, there was a high incidence of necessity of General Anaesthesia due to the lack of collaboration of the children.

Conclusion: The high prevalence of treatment under general anaesthesia and the often-reported negative behaviour evidence how there is a lack of protocols specifically designed for these patients, in order to better improve their collaboration and subsequently their oral health and so additional strategies for a preventive care should be applied for these patients.