Periodontal Treatment Needs Amongst 9-14 Year-old Institutionalized Mentally Retarded Children in Mashhad, IRAN

Statement of Problem: Periodontal problems seem to be more common in mentally retarded children due to the poorer oral hygiene than in mentally healthy children, but no data are available on periodontal treatment needs in these children in Mashhad. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine periodontal treatment needs of the mentally retarded children in Mashhad, Iran, using the Community Periodontal Index for Treatment Needs. Materials and Method: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 258 mentally retarded children aged 9-14 years consisting of 38 educable, 95 trainable and 125 profound children residing in governmental and private centers in the city of Mashhad, Iran were assessed for Community Periodontal Index for Treatment Needs (CPITN). For analyzing the results of the study, T-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. The level of significance was set at p <0.05. Results: Statistical analysis revealed that the mean CPITN among different age groups was 1.34±0.49. The mean CPITN increased with age (p =0.01) and with the level of mental retardation (p= 0.001). The treatments needed for most of the children were oral hygiene instruction (74.42%), followed by scaling (23.64%), and extensive periodontal treatments (1.16%). Only, 0.78% of the population demonstrated healthy periodontal tissue. Mean CPITN was significantly higher in governmental centers than private ones (p =0.02). Conclusion: It was concluded that the periodontal treatment needs (oral hygiene instruction) of the mentally retarded children was high in Mashhad.