Dental caries prevalence in children attending special needs schools in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa.
BACKGROUND
Anecdotal evidence from clinical data in Johannesburg suggests that there is a high burden of dental caries among children with special health care needs (CSHCN) in Johannesburg.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of dental caries and Unmet Treatment Needs in children with cerebral palsy, hearing, learning and mental disabilities attending special needs schools in Johannesburg and to compare these with data from the National Children's Oral Health Survey (NCOHS) METHODS: This cross-sectional analytical study comprised of 882 children attending five special needs schools in Johannesburg. Stratified randomised sampling of the participating schools was done and the schools were stratified by disability. Caries status was recorded via the dmft/DMFT index using WHO criteria and guidelines.


RESULTS
The mean age of the participants was 10.5 years; with a caries prevalence of 27.55% and 33.56% in the primary and permanent dentition respectively. The highest unmet treatment need of 100% was found in the permanent dentition of the hearing impaired group followed by 90.77% in the primary dentition of the cerebral palsy group. In general no significant difference was found when the dmft/DMFT for CSHCN and NCOHS were compared except in the hearing impaired age groups four to five and six (both primary dentition) where significantly higher dmft scores (3.58 vs. 2.4; 3.85 vs. 2.9; p < 0.05) were found.


CONCLUSIONS
Children with special health care needs had lower caries prevalence compared with the general population and higher unmet treatment needs regardless of the type of disability.
Faculty of Health Sciences, Dept. of Community Dentistry, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. cathrine.nqcobo@wits.ac.za
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CB
Nqcobo
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Yengopal
M J
MJ
Rudolph
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Thekiso
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Joosab
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019989:Persons with Intellectual Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000473:pathology