Access to Oral Health Care for Children with Motor Disability: Caregivers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the access and identify obstacles for oral health care of Children with Motor Disability (CMD) in the city of Joao Pessoa – PB, from caregivers’ perspectives. Methods: It was employed an inductive approach, descriptive procedure and intensive direct observation technique by means of interview. The study encompassed 43 out of the 59 caregivers of identified CMD aged 0-12 years, selected by convenience. Audio-recorded interviews were transcripted and analyzed descriptively and qualitatively (Collective Subject Discourse technique - CSD). Results: According to caregivers’ reports, children’s diagnoses were cerebral palsy (86%; n=36), hydrocephaly (4%; n=2), spina bifida (2%; n=2); West syndrome (2%; n=1), Down syndrome (2%; n=1) and Rett syndrome (2%; n=1). The access to dentist was achieved by 69% (n=30) children, from which 50% (n=15) was in the private practice. Difficulties in getting access were found by 65% (n=28); among those, are: low supply of dentists to support disabled patients (75%; n=21), delay in scheduling (18%; n=5) and unavailability to perform the procedure without general anesthesia (7%; n=2). The CSD gathered from the perception on oral health was: Oral health care is measures for prevention, promotion and control, through cleansing and elimination of harmful habits, besides being a regular follow-up by the dentist. Conclusion: From the caregiver’s perception, access to oral health care by CMD is hard, presenting as obstacles: low supply of dentists to support disabled patients, delay in scheduling and need for general anesthesia.