Social, Educational and Dental Profiles of Brazilian Patients with Special Needs Attended at a Center for Dental Specialties

ABSTRACT

Objective: To identify the profiles of patients with special needs attended at a Center for Dental Specialties. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional and quantitative study using an inductive approach, and a comparative and statistical procedure for analysis of the patients with special needs. Information concerning socioeconomic, medical and dental conditions was collected. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS, adopting a significance level of 5%. Results: It was observed that 58.6% of the users were males, single (54.7%), in the age group from 19 to 59 years (41.1%), being 97.4% without schooling. The most frequent clinical diagnoses were: deviations in intelligence (18.4%), behavioral deviations (18.4%) and physical defects (17.9%). We observed for oral health the presence of gingivitis (33.0%), and healthy gums (47.8%); the presence of caries (64.9%), with restored teeth (28.5%), and edentulism (12.3%). Dental intervention procedures were initiated with emphasis on: fluoride applications (39.7%) and subgingival scraping (34.9%). Topical fluoride applications (p=0.010) and prophylaxis (p=0.010) were realized in patients without autism. Also, prophylaxis (p=0.007) was more frequently performed and gingival alterations were more often verified (p=0.020) in patients without Down's syndrome. Conclusion: The users of the patients with special needs dental service can be generally described as male, single, aged between 19 and 54 years, with the special conditions of intelligence and behavioral deviation.