Sweetened medicines and hospitalization: caries risk factors in children with and without special needs

Authors:

ABSTRACT

Aim

This was to evaluate caries risk factors: medicine consumption level, oral hygiene frequency and oral hygiene habits
during hospitalization of children with and without special needs.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out using a pre-tested
form, interviews were conducted with guardians of children with G1-116 and without special needs G2-86, from
a public day nursery in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

Results

Average use of medications was at 21.8 months for G1- 24.5 and
G2- 7.2 (Mann-Whitney: p-value = 0.0009. In the total sample, medicines were taken usually at night; 8.4 of parents
sweetened them before ingestion and the majority of children did not brush their teeth after taking medicines. More than half
61.9 had been hospitalized with an average duration of 21.8 days; 83 66.4 had had few
hospitalizations; G1- 62.8 and G2 -77.4. Some 81.6 of the sample reported no tooth brushing while in hospital.
STATISTICS: The data were entered in the EPI INFO 6.04d program, and the tests used were Fisher Exact, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-
Wallis and Chi-square with a 5 significance level. CONCLUSIONS: Poor oral hygiene habits when taking medicines and during
hospitalizations were observed, mainly among children with special needs.

PLUMX METRICS