title: [Dental caries amongst mentally retarded people and those suffering from Down's syndrome].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A descriptive investigation was conducted for determining the prevalence of dental caries amongst mentally retarded (MR) people and those suffering from Down's syndrome (DS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A special school located in Morán county in the State of Lara was visited. The inclusion criteria involved dental examination of 60 students and their parents/or the person responsible for them being interviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants' mean age was 14.5 +/- 8.17; 48.3% were from a blue collar level. Regarding oral health, 53.0% had dental caries, 51.7% being in the molars. Moderately MR people had the highest proportion of dental caries (75%). About 53% of the females and 46.2% of males, 644% and 31.9% of RM and DS participants had caries. 28.3% needed non-urgent dental treatment and 45% were using public dental health services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  People suffering from MR and DS have precarious oral health; it is thus recommended that health programmes be created which are specifically directed towards these people.
authors.affiliation: Sección de Epidemiología y Bioestadística, Escuela de Medicina de la Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado, Barquisimeto, Venezuela. mangue98@hotmail.com
authors.forename: María E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Dávila
authors.forename: Maritza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Damelis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Daza
authors.forename: Xiomara
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bullones
authors.forename: Eunice
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ugel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D014687:Venezuela / Q000453:epidemiology