Assessment of Parental Perceptions of Socio-Psychological Factors, Unmet Dental Needs, and Barriers to Utilise Oral Health Care in Autistic Children.

INTRODUCTION:  Parents' participation is crucial in the dental health intervention of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parenting children with ASD is extremely stressful and challenging. Parents and other caregivers have a responsibility to care for and raise children with ASD. Parental perception of the condition, situational adaptation, and attitude towards the issue are significant indicators of how they will respond and eventually adapt to it. METHODOLOGY: A comparative, descriptive study was done on parents of 154 autistic children and 235 normal children. An 11-variable questionnaire eliciting various details of socio-psychological factors affecting the utilisation of oral health care was designed and validated. The questionnaire also included parameters regarding barriers to accessing dental services. The dental caries and oral hygiene status of all children were examined using the Basic Oral Health Survey 2013 proforma. Chi-square and independent t-tests were applied to find significant differences between the groups. RESULTS: A greater number of male children (61.0%) were observed among autistic children. Parental perception regarding socio-psychological concerns with raising an autistic child showed significant differences for all variables between the groups except for assistance in the child's task with 90.2% as against 55% of the parents with non-autistic children. Parents of autistic children were more receptive to the idea of focus group discussion. Decayed teeth were significantly found to be higher in autistic cohorts (2.554 ± 1.616 versus 1.779 ± 1.841). Oral hygiene status was also statistically significant amongst autism-affected children than those who were not at p =0.000. CONCLUSION: The present study explored various socio-psychological factors of parental perception of autistic children. A better outcome can be suggested when parents gained awareness regarding various strategies and treatment options available for their child's oral health. Furthermore, dental health can be improved by bringing in certain environmental modifications in which the autistic child is groomed.

Perception of dental professionals regarding integration of dental auxiliary into dental health delivery system.

BACKGROUND: The practical solution to handle increasing awareness toward dental treatment and cost of the dental treatment is integration of dental auxiliary into dental healthcare delivery system, and hence the objective of this study was to assess the perception of dental professionals regarding integration of dental auxiliaries into dental health delivery system in India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study of Indian dentists was conducted using self-administered closed-ended questionnaire. Questions were asked to assess the opinions of the dentists on expanding the roles of dental auxiliaries and its consequences on dental services. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22.0. The level of significance was kept at P < 0.05. RESULTS: Of 230 dentists who participated in the study, 155 (67.39%) reported unfavorable opinion toward expanded duty dental auxiliaries. Among the studied consequences of expanding the functions of dental auxiliaries, cost-effectiveness of treatment had the highest mean score, followed by redundancy of dentists. Undergraduates reported that expanded function dental auxiliaries would lead to redundancy of dentists. CONCLUSION: It is recommended to train the auxiliaries to meet the expectations of patients, but this should be considered keeping in mind the existing situation of dental professionals in the country. Nonetheless, this study gives us information necessary to tailor health policies and improve the standards of the existing oral healthcare delivery in India.

Endodontic treatment in submerged roots: a case report.

Alveolar ridge resorption has long been considered an unavoidable consequence of tooth extraction. While the extent and pattern of resorption is variable among individuals, there is a progressive loss of ridge contour as a result of physiologic bone remodeling. Even today, with best modalities of tooth preservation, there is a group of elderly individuals who do not benefit from modern preventive practices and who now present a dilemma in terms of maintaining the masticatory apparatus necessary for nutrition. Even with excellent dental care, such patients experience abrasion of the natural tooth crowns with age, and embedded roots are left within the alveolar bone. According to old concepts of dental care, extraction of these roots would have been recommended, but today's goal of excellence in endodontics dictates otherwise. We report a case in which vital and non-vital root submergence was carried out to prevent alveolar ridge reduction.