ABSTRACT
An investigation was carried out to determine those factors that play a decisive part in dental care for handicapped children living at home. Data were obtained by interviews with parents of 32 mentally retarded and cerebral palsied children, 20 attendants, 48 general dental practitioners and 19 dental hygienists in two districts in The Netherlands. The dental health of 21 children was clinically examined. Parents experienced many problems in maintenance of oral hygiene as well as in finding a dentist for their child. They perceived drooling, halitosis and oral-facial malfunctions as the most important oral problems. Poor levels of oral hygiene were found in the handicapped children and the normative treatment needs were high. Dentists and dental hygienists shrank from treating disabled patients mainly because of inadequate knowledge and training. The results of this study were discussed in the context of planning dental health care for the handicapped.
Subject(s)
Dental Care for Disabled/psychology , Cerebral Palsy , Child , Child, Preschool , Community Dentistry , Humans , Intellectual Disability , Netherlands , Oral HygieneABSTRACT
Many systemic diseases, disabling conditions and medical treatment may reduce the caries resistance of the patient. Some factors and conditions that might influence caries susceptibility and caries activity especially in the handicapped are discussed. The actual caries risk of a patient decides on the type and the intensity of preventive measures. Caries control in particular for mentally retarded and cerebral palsied patients is described.
Subject(s)
Dental Care for Disabled , Dental Caries/prevention & control , Cerebral Palsy , Chlorhexidine/therapeutic use , Fluorides/therapeutic use , Humans , Intellectual Disability , Oral Hygiene , Pit and Fissure Sealants , SalivaABSTRACT
The caries reducing effect of the application of pit and fissure sealants has been demonstrated by several studies. It remains however a matter of debate, if every newly erupted fissure has to be sealed. From this article it becomes clear that the decision for sealing depends on several factors as there are: the general health status of the patient, the socio-economic situation, the responsibility of the child for his/her own hygiene, the motivation of the patient, the caries history of the patient: his/her dietary habits, fluoride-use and regular six-month recalls. The motivation of the practitioner and his/her knowledge of fissure caries (including morphology and caries susceptibility) are also very important. So, an individual application after giving the matter a careful thought is recommended and proposing general rules is not possible. Finally an attempt is made to suggest some guidelines.
Subject(s)
Dental Caries/prevention & control , Pit and Fissure Sealants/administration & dosage , Child , Health Status , Humans , Motivation , Oral Hygiene , Pediatric Dentistry/standards , Socioeconomic FactorsSubject(s)
Composite Resins , Dental Veneers , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Denture Design , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Incisor , MaxillaABSTRACT
Tuberous sclerosis is a complex syndrome. Recognition of the disease can be very difficult because of its incomplete forms. In this article a new symptom of possibly great diagnostic value is discussed, namely the presence of enamel defects in patients with tuberous sclerosis. For a clear understanding and correct interpretation of enamel defects in general, the role of the odontogenesis, the amelogenesis and the different types of developmental disturbances is explained. A review is given of all published investigations concerning the presence of enamel defects in tuberous sclerosis. The conclusion is that the enamel defects may be of great importance for an early diagnosis as well as for a possible revise of the penetrance and mutation rate of the disease.
Subject(s)
Dental Enamel Hypoplasia/complications , Tuberous Sclerosis/complications , Amelogenesis , Child , Child, Preschool , Dental Enamel/ultrastructure , Dental Enamel Hypoplasia/physiopathology , Humans , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Odontogenesis , Tuberous Sclerosis/diagnosisSubject(s)
Dental Care , Medical History Taking , Child , Child Behavior , Humans , Personality , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Judgments of sentence structure were studied in two non-agrammatic and four agrammatic patients. The subjects were required to sort the words from a sentence on the basis of how closely related they felt the words to be in that particular sentence. A hierarchical cluster analysis was then carried out on the data. The non-agrammatic patients produced typical "agrammatic" subjective trees in which function words and adjectives were weakly related to the rest of the sentence. The agrammatic patients produced structures that were fully normal. Two conclusions are drawn. First, this metalinguistic paradigm is inadequate as an indicator of an impairment in the mental representation of constituent structure. Second, the hypothesis that agrammatic speakers do not have such a representation is seriously weakened. Implications are discussed for the methodology of aphasia research as well as for theories on the nature of agrammatism.
Subject(s)
Language Disorders/psychology , Adult , Aphasia/psychology , Female , Humans , Linguistics , Male , Middle AgedSubject(s)
Dental Enamel Hypoplasia/diagnosis , Tooth, Deciduous , Tuberous Sclerosis/diagnosis , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
The clinical and scanning-electron-microscope appearances of enamel defects in six patients with tuberous sclerosis are described. The pit-shaped enamel defects seem to be pathognomonic of the disease. The detection may be an important help in the early diagnosis of this complex syndrome.
