Oral Health State of Handicapped Children Treated under General Anaesthesia

The aim of the study was to compare the oral health status of uncooperative anxious (A) and mentally retarded children (MR) treated under general anaesthesia in the period of 2002-2004 at the Stomatological Clinic, Medical Faculty in Brno. The dental records of 141 children, 6-19-year-old (mean 11.16 years, SD 2.95) and 28 children 6-year-old and younger (mean 3.73, SD 1.41), were used, the data gathered and evaluated. Fisher exact test was applied to evaluate the significance of results. Children 6-19-year-old: MR (n=61) versus A (n=80): DMFT: 6.16, 4.94, DT: 5.16, 4.26, MT: 0.34, 0.19, FT: 0.61, 0.49, RI (%): 6.27, 7.52. In anxious children the number of teeth indicated for extraction was significantly higher both versus D-teeth (p = 0.0013) and versus erupted teeth (p = 0.005). Children 6-year-old and younger: MR (n=7) versus A (n=21): dmft: 7.57, 5.29 (p = 0.013), dt: 7.29, 4.9 (p = 0.0088), mt: 0.0, 0.29, ft: 0.29, 0.1, ri (%): 3.17, 2.38. In MR children the number of teeth indicated for extraction was significantly higher both versus d-teeth (p = 0.029) and versus erupted teeth (p = 0.00046). The results of the study have demonstrated that there are statistically significant differences in the data on the oral health state between anxious children who are healthy and mentally retarded ones. In both groups the data are substantially higher than those of common population. Keywords: dentistry, general anaesthesia, handicapped patient, DMFT