ABSTRACT
Background and aim: mentally retarded children and people, because of their special physical status, need intensive dental care. The goal of this investigation was to evaluate their DMFT and its relationship with sex, age, degree of retardation and dental care
Methods and Materials: this cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 165 [105 males - 60 Females] physically and mentally retarded patients, 6-18 year old, at six institutes for handicapped authorized by Behzisti organization in Babol and Babolsar. These patients were divided into 6-9, 10- 14 and 15-18 year old age groups. After clinical examination by mirror and dental explorer the related data were analyzed using SPSS programe
Results: mean DMFT in 6-18 year old handicapped persons was 2.31+/-2.92. Mean DMFT in 6-year-old group was 0.54+/-1.21 and with increasing age in 18-year--old group was 5.46+/-5.02. Mean DMFT among males and females were 2.06+/-2.62 and 2.76+/-3.37, respectively. Mean DMFT in educable group was 3.94+/-2.55, in trainable group was 2.5723.20 and in severely retarded group was 1.062 1.54
Conclusion: mean DMFT in retarded persons under study was similar to normal subjects at the same age. Mean DMFT, among these people, increased with age and was higher in females. Mean DMFT declined with increasing the degree of retardation. The level of dental care in these patients, was low