La perception des parents d’enfants atteints d’autisme ou autres Troubles Envahissants du Développement sur l’accès aux soins dentaires au Québec
Literature review. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that presents many challenges for the dental practitioner. There is currently no published data on the access to dental care for autistic children in Quebec.  Materials and Methods. A survey, elaborated for this research and approved by the CHU Sainte-Justine’s research ethic committee, was distributed to parents of children visiting outpatient’s clinics of the hospital. The children had to be between the ages of 18 months and 18 years old, have an ASA score of 2 or lower and, for the study group, have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder by a professionnal. Results. Twenty-seven parents of autistic children and 37 parents of children in good health were surveyed. Fourty-four percent of the study group reported difficulty in finding a dentist compared to 5% of the controls.  Only 35% of the autistic children were followed by a general dentist compared to 79% of the children in good health. Seventy percent of the parents in the study group have to brush their children’s teeth and 83% of them find it difficult because of a lack of cooperation from the child.  Conclusion. It is significantly more difficult to find a dentist for an autistic child in Quebec than it is for a healthy child. For this patient population, we have to facilitate the accessibility to dental care in our province. Moreover, we need to support the parents of these children and provide them with the necessary to prevent dental disease.
Autism Dental care Access