Ocorrência de traumatismo dentário em um grupo de crianças com transtorno do espectro autista

Abstract

Previous investigations assessed whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may present a higher prevalence of dental trauma, without, however, have achieved conclusive results. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of dental trauma (TD) in a group of children with ASD, compared to children without ASD. This is an observational, cross-sectional study. The study sample consisted of a total of 60 children, 30 children with ASD and 30 children without ASD. Data collection of children diagnosed with ASD was carried out in the outpatient clinic attached to the Department of Child and Adolescent Health of the Department of Health of Juiz de Fora. Individuals without ASD were selected from among children attending routine pediatric consultations at the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Federal University of Juiz de Fora. Data collection was performed through a clinical examination, the diagnosis of dental trauma was made based on the criteria proposed by Andreasen and Andreasen (1994). The parents/guardians answered a questionnaire that included the child’s sociodemographic information (gender, age, position in the family, previous visit to the dentist), as well as information from their parents (age of mother and father, years of schooling of mother and family income and overcrowding at home). The age in both groups ranged from 3 to 13 years, with an average of 7.5 ± 3.2 years. Most of the children in the TEA group were boys. Children with ASD had a higher frequency of DT compared to children without ASD (p = 0.02). Enamel fracture and enamel/dentin fracture without pulp exposure were the most frequent DT among children with ASD. Thus, we can conclude that the occurrence of dental trauma was higher in children with ASD compared to children who did not have ASD.