Unmet Oral Health Needs Are Common Among US Children With Developmental Disabilities

New research shows that United States children with developmental disorders/disabilities (DD) are more likely to experience unmet oral health needs than typical children even though children with DD see an oral health professional more frequently than children without disabilities. Published in BMC Public Health, the study looked at 6,501 children with DD and 24,029 children without any special healthcare needs. The analysis found that children with DD were more likely to have oral health needs (20.3% vs 12.2%) and unmet dental needs (3.5% vs 1.2%) even though children with DD had higher utilization of dental services (86.1% vs 76.1%) than children without DD. The study authors noted the following factors as impacting the higher level of need among children with DD: poverty, lack of insurance, presence of severe disability, and living in the Western region of the US. Click here to read more.