Dental Caries and Periodontal Alterations in Patients With Cerebral Palsy

Objectives: To describe the prevalence and factors associated with dental caries and periodontal alteration in Brazilian children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP).
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted with 80 patients of 2 to 18 years old. Caregivers completed a socioeconomic questionnaire, while oral exams were conducted by a trained examiner (K=0.66-0.75), with records of permanent Decayed, Missed and Filled Teeth (DMFT), deciduous missed, decayed, extracted or filled teeth (dmft), Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI) and Community Periodontal Index (CPI). The inferential statistical analysis used Poisson Regression with robust variance estimation (α=0.05).
Results: The prevalence of dental caries was 59.3%, with DMFT and mean dmft of 1.71+2.42 and 2.22+3.23, respectively. The periodontal evaluation showed that 89.9% of the patients presented alterations. The mean GBI was 22.44%, and in the CPI, the prevalence of gingival bleeding, calculus, shallow and deep pockets were 94.73%, 79.62%, 12.90% and 3.22%, respectively. The caregiver’s educational level of less than eight years were associated with the dental caries experience (PR=1.43; 95% CI=1.09-1.89). The periodontal alterations were associated with female sex (PR=0.82; 95% CI=0.69-0.97), caregiver’s educational level of less than eight years (PR=1.15; 95% CI=1.03-1.29), poor oral perception (PR=0.89; 95% CI=0.80-0.98), serious communication problem (PR=0.87; 95% CI=0.76-0.99) and athetoid type of CP (PR=0.85; 95% CI=0.75-0.97).
Conclusions: The children and adolescents with CP presented high dental caries experience and periodontal alterations, which were associated with their demographic, socioeconomic, oral health perception and systemic information.