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Unmet Dental Needs and Barriers to Dental Care Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

Mail-in pilot-tested questionnaires were sent to a stratified random sample of 1,500 families from the North Carolina Autism Registry. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the significance of unmet dental needs and other predictors. Of 568 surveys returned (Response Rate = 38%), 555 were complete and usable. Sixty-five (12%) children had unmet dental needs. Of 516 children (93%) who had been to a dentist, 11% still reported unmet needs. The main barriers were child’s behavior, cost, and lack of insurance. The significant predictor variables of unmet needs were child’s behavior (p = 0.01), child’s dental health (p < 0.001), and caregiver’s last dental visit greater than 6 months (p = 0.002). Type of ASD did not have an effect on having unmet dental needs.

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Acknowledgments

The research is supported by the National Center for Research Resources, North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NCTRaCS #10KR51022), and by funding from National Institute for Child Health and Development for the UNC Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center (NICHD# P30 HD03110) which supports the Autism Registry. The authors would like to thank Dr. Renee Clark of the North Carolina Registry for Autism Research for her assistance in constructing and contacting the sample for the survey, and Dr Jessica Lee, Dr Kimon Divaris, and Dr Ceib Phillips for their statistical help.

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Author notes

  1. Bien Lai

    Present address: National Dental Center of Singapore, 5 Second Hospital Avenue, Singapore, 168938, Singapore

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Bien Lai, Michael Milano & Michael W. Roberts

  2. Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Stephen R. Hooper

Authors
  1. Bien Lai
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  2. Michael Milano
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  3. Michael W. Roberts
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  4. Stephen R. Hooper
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Correspondence to Bien Lai.

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Lai, B., Milano, M., Roberts, M.W. et al. Unmet Dental Needs and Barriers to Dental Care Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 1294–1303 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1362-2

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