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Toothbrushing in children with autism spectrum disorders: qualitative analysis of parental difficulties and solutions in France

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European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The oral care of a child with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a challenge, not only for dentists, but also for parents. The objective of this study was to evaluate the difficulties encountered by parents in maintaining oral hygiene in autistic children and the solutions they found to facilitate this daily act.

Methods

A questionnaire with closed and open questions about characteristics of the child and oral health at home, conducted via Google Form, was sent to French families through 301 associations of parents with autistic children. For the quantitative analysis, logistic regression was used. The open answers were analysed by theme.

Results

This study included 756 offspring aged 14.4 (± 8.1) years. Girls were 1.7 (95% CI: 1.1–2.8) times more likely to have toothbrushing difficulty than boys. Nonverbal patients (OR:3.2; 95% CI: 2.2–4.9), autistic patients (OR:2.8; 95% CI: 1.4–5.2), patients using pictograms (OR:1.6; 95% CI: 1.1–2.4), and younger children (OR:0.9; 95% CI: 0.9–0.9) were significantly more likely to encounter difficulties in tolerating toothbrushing. The qualitative analysis showed that parents used three main ways to facilitate toothbrushing: planning, modelling and making it enjoyable. Seventy-nine percent of parents did not feel sufficiently informed about the different oral hygiene prevention tools and techniques for their ASD children and would like to be educated in the daily management of oral hygiene.

Conclusion

The role of parents remains essential and professionals should work in collaboration with them.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the families and associations who accepted to participate in this survey.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Dentistry Department, Dental University, Université de Toulouse III, Toulouse, France

    M. Teste, A. Broutin & M. Marty

  2. Children’s Hospital Toulouse, Dental University, Université de Toulouse III, I2MC, Inserm U1048, CHU de Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    M. C. Valéra & E. Noirrit-Esclassan

  3. School of Physical Education, The Lifestyles and Health Research Group (GPES), University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil

    F. Soares Cunha

  4. Division of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    F. Soares Cunha

Authors
  1. M. Teste
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  2. A. Broutin
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  3. M. Marty
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  4. M. C. Valéra
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  5. F. Soares Cunha
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  6. E. Noirrit-Esclassan
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by MT, AB and EN-E, data collection was performed by MT and analysis was performed by MM, FCS, M-CV and EN-E. The first draft of the manuscript was written by EN-E and all authors commented on the versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Noirrit-Esclassan.

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Conflicts of interest

The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

Ethics approval

Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of Toulouse University, France. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

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Teste, M., Broutin, A., Marty , M. et al. Toothbrushing in children with autism spectrum disorders: qualitative analysis of parental difficulties and solutions in France. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 22, 1049–1056 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-021-00640-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-021-00640-3

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