Dental health and dental care in severely mentally retarded children.

Dental health of 103 children with severe mental retardation living in the north of Sweden, has been surveyed and compared with that of a control group of healthy children of normal intelligence. Data has been related to medical diagnosis, medication, type of residence and previous dental care. The children with severe mental retardation had been offered dental care to the same extent as the control children. Lack of cooperation in treatment and treatment under general anaesthesia was common among the SMR-children. The SMR-children who lived in institutions had a lower prevalence of caries than either those SMR-children not living in institutions or the control group. The SMR-children had a considerably higher frequency of inflamed gingival surfaces and pathological gingival pockets than the control children. The highest frequency was found among children with Down's syndrome. Gingival hyperplasias were recorded in 21% of the SMR-children. The study showed that the children with SMR had shared the generally improved dental care resources and that regular dental care had ensured that there was no neglected need for caries treatment. Periodontal health was poor and the need for stronger and appropriate preventive measures against gingivitis and periodontitis was considerable.