Interdisciplinary approach to the diagnosis of dentofacial deformities and speech disorders in preschoolers

Relevance. Maxillofacial deformities and speech disorders are common types of oral pathology detected in children under seven years. Comprehensive rehabilitation of patients with a combination of these forms of pathology is a difficult task since there is no situational analysis of their prevalence; motivated specialists work in different institutions (education, healthcare) and have different guidelines for the treatment (correction) of existing diseases (disorders), which complicates planning and administering treatment, and predicting results.Material and methods. To identify the nature of the relationship between various forms of orthodontic and speech disorders in children, we conducted a comprehensive clinical dental examination of 80 children aged 4-6 years in a preschool educational institution, where children with speech disorders receive speech therapy assistance.Results. Maxillofacial deformities appeared to be in 56.25% of children with some speech sound disorder. Children with identified speech sound disorders combined with dentofacial deformities showed not only skeletal but also soft tissue defects: shifted midline (86.67 ± 0.10%), distal occlusion (42.22 ± 0.30%), deep overbite (46.68%), as well as tongue and upper lip ties in 51.10% and 22.20% of cases, respectively. On examination, 44.45% of patients demonstrated clinical signs of mouth breathing, 32.5% – reverse swallowing, and 53.33% – inefficient chewing.Conclusion. Analysis of the results of a comprehensive speech pathology assessment and dental examination allowed us to conclude that there is a need to rethink the methodology of diagnosis, prevention and treatment of combined speech and dental disorders due to the high frequency of their comorbidity in preschool children.