BackgroundSensory over‐responsivity (SOR) is common in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), and it leads to a more intense response to sensory stimuli.AimTo compare toothbrushing cooperation at home and in a dental office between SOR and sensory not over‐responsivity (SNOR) children with ASD.DesignThis cross‐sectional observational study was conducted with 51 children with ASD aged 4‐17 years. Caregivers assessed each subject's sensory response by completing a back‐translation questionnaire listing eight sensitivities. Subjects who had three or more of the sensitivities were considered SOR subjects. Toothbrushing cooperation in the dental office was recorded on videos. Statistical analysis used the Spearman correlation coefficient, chi‐square test, Fisher's exact test, and Mann‐Whitney U test.ResultsSNOR subjects (n = 10) had significantly higher scores in toothbrushing cooperation at home and in the dental office than did SOR subjects (n = 41) (P < .05). Oral sensitivity was significantly associated with toothbrushing cooperation at home, whereas oral, light, sound, and touch (face) sensitivities were significantly correlated with toothbrushing cooperation in the dental office (P < .05).ConclusionsSOR subjects showed less toothbrushing cooperation than SNOR subjects both at home and in the dental office.
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BSTRACT
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to evaluate toothbrushing effectiveness in children with mild and moderate levels of severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) after using visual pedagogy.
Materials and Methods:
This quasi-experimental study was carried out with 30 children with ASD aged 5–17 years; 21 had mild ASD and 9 had moderate ASD. Informed consent and the subject’s demographic information were obtained from caregivers. All subjects were then asked to show their toothbrushing practices, which were recorded by video. The toothbrushing ability, toothbrushing cooperation, and plaque index were evaluated before the study and at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after visual pedagogy had been used. Results were analyzed by the Friedman test, Pearson’s chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and Mann‒Whitney
U
test.
Results:
Toothbrushing ability was significantly improved at all periods of follow-up. Toothbrushing cooperation and the dental plaque index were significantly better than before the study at 4 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months of follow-up. The toothbrushing ability of subjects with mild ASD was significantly better than that of subjects with moderate ASD at 4 weeks and 6 months of follow-up. The toothbrushing cooperation of the mild group was significantly better than that of the moderate group at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 3 months. There was no statistically significant reduction in the plaque index between the two groups.
Conclusion:
Visual pedagogy is useful for improving toothbrushing effectiveness in children with mild or moderate severity ASD. However, children with moderate severity ASD take longer to improve.
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