Improvement of Caries Prevention Methods for Children with Mental Retardation

In modern society, diseases of the oral cavity are of humanitarian, socio - economic significance. Today, tooth decay and periodontal disease remain the most common dental disease not only among adults, but also among younger populations around the world. According to recent epidemiological studies conducted on healthy children, the incidence of dental pathology is high, with the prevalence of caries among healthy age groups 12-15 years old is 63.3-83 years, 4% and 81.7-88.7%, intensity 3.02 -3.75 and 4.6-5.73, and the prevalence of periodontal tissue diseases in the group of healthy 12-year-old children ranged from 37.8% to 50%, in the 15-year-old group of children it ranged from 57.7% to 84, 7%. The prevalence of caries is also high in children with mental retardation of preschool and school age, while the intensity of caries is higher in children aged 13–18 years with mild mental retardation (MAD). These indicators increase with age and depend on the severity of the underlying disease. We carried out a program for the prevention of dental diseases in children with disabilities, however, most of them were focused on children with mild and moderate mental retardation, where not only the degree of mental retardation was taken into account, but also teaching them oral care skills, the degree of socialization and the child's diet.