Cárie dentária em crianças com e sem paralisia cerebral - estudo transversal controlado

Abstract

Objective: To verify if the dental caries experience of children with Cerebral Palsy differs from children without Cerebral Palsy. Methodology: a controlled crosssectional study was carried out with quantitative approach, descriptive and analytical procedures, inductive method and intensive direct observation technique. The non-probabilistic sample consisted of 116 children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and 348 children without Cerebral Palsy (WCP) aged 2 to 12 years, matched by age, in the proportion of 1:3, the former being attended in five rehabilitation institutions, and the second group studied in two nurseries and two schools of the municipal network of João Pessoa-PB. Results: the caries experience (dmf or DMF≥1) was similar when evaluated in the chi-square test between the groups of children with CP (58.9%) and WCP (53.7%), p = 0.360. The analysis of dmf data by age with the Mann Whitney test showed that the frequency of deciduous teeth extracted at 5 years (CP = 0.69 ± 2.21 and WCP = 0.00 ± 0.00, p = 0.01) and of decayed teeth at 6 years (CP = 5.80 ± 5.43 and WCP = 1.70 ± 2.14, p = 0.01) was higher in children with CP. The mixed dentition showed, in the Mann Whitney test, a significant difference in the frequency of decayed teeth at six years of age, which was higher in children with CP (7.27 ± 4.92) compared to WCP (2.46 ± 2.85), p = 0.02. The DMF index for permanent dentition, considering its components, by age, in the studied groups, in the Mann Whitney test, did not present a significant difference (p <0.05). Conclusion: The experience of dental caries among children aged two to 12 years with CP and WCP was similar. When stratifying by age, children with CP had, in the deciduous dentition, more teeth extracted at age 5 and more decayed teeth at 6 years of age. There were no differences in the components of the permanent dentition in the stratification by age.