Dental Caries Status in a Sample of Sudanese Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Background: Autistic spectrum disorder is long life neuro-developmental disorder. The objectives of this study were to describe caries status for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and to provide baseline data to facilitate future planning of dental services to those children. Material and Method: A descriptive cross sectional study in Khartoum area for 43autistic children attending 8 autistic centres. Data was collected based on caries assessment form,which consists of demographic data of the child and intra oral examination to detect visible caries using the dmft and DMFT scores. The response rate was 45 out of 65. Result: Male to female ratio of autistic children sample in this study was 3:1. The mean DMFT/ dmft of the caries status were (0.83) and (2.40) respectively. The mean DMFT score (1.0) in boys and (0.33) in girls, it was statistically significant with age (p 0.004) in boys. The height percentage