Clinical and demographic characteristics of people with disabilities attending a dental teaching clinic

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Eduarda Tomé Ferreira da
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Silva-Selva, Elizabeth Louisy Marques Soares da, Macêdo, Thuanny Silva de, Araújo, Millena Mirella Silva de, Lins Filho, Paulo Cardoso, Aguiar, Camilla Siqueira de, Vasconcelos, Márcia Maria Vendiciano Barbosa, Caldas Jr, Arnaldo de França
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da ABENO (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revabeno.emnuvens.com.br/revabeno/article/view/1238
• topic: Pessoas com deficiência; Saúde Bucal; Assistência Odontológica.; People with Disabilities; Oral Health; Dental Care.

The aim of this article was to describe the clinical and demographic characteristics of people with disabilities attending a dental teaching clinic in northeastern Brazil, and to associate these profiles with the cumulative needs and treatments performed from March to July 2019. This was a database study in which sex, age, medical diagnosis, medication use, reason for consultation, and previous treatments obtained from the medical records were evaluated. A convenience sample of 55 records from patients seen during this period was used. The chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were applied to evaluate the association between the variables studied, adopting a 95% confidence interval and an error margin of 5%. Most patients were male (52.7%) and were between 20 and 59 years old (54.5%). The most prevalent underlying diseases were systemic diseases (34.5%) and intellectual disability  (32.7%). Regarding medications, 80% of the patients continuously used some drug. The reason for consultation was pain in 60% of the sample and restorative procedures were the most frequently performed (63.6%). Moreover, patients with intellectual disability commonly required physical restraint and sedatives. The dental consultations comprised patients with different special needs. Although the teaching clinic prioritizes preventive management, most of the procedures performed were curative, a fact that might be related to the late seeking of dental treatment and difficulties of accessing health services.