Oral Health Status in a Group of Egyptian Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Cross-sectional Study

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of neuromuscular disorders affecting the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitations. Disturbances to the development of the infant brain may occur early either in utero, during birth or in the first few months of infancy.It may be due to infection, trauma, hypoxia, or hyperbilirubinemia in addition to genetic and biochemical factors. Subsequently, there will be limitations in muscular activity. CP is the most common motor disability occurring during childhood. The prevalence of CP around the world ranges from 1.5 to >4/1000 live births in the developed countries (Al Hashmi et al. 2017).

The CP classification includes four types: spastic, dyskinetic, hypotonic, and mixed, the spastic type being the most common and at times most severe one. Manifestations of cerebral palsy can take on a vast spectrum from minimal symptoms such as minor movement limitation to spasms, muscular rigidity, confinement in a wheelchair, poor bowel control and respiratory problems (Răducanu, Anca et al. 2008).

The patients with cerebral dysfunction may also display mental retardation, epilepsy, sensorial deficiencies (sight and hearing impairment), persistent primitive reflexes, attention-, memory-, learningand emotional problems, language and speaking disturbances (Amit Mani et al. 2015) .

Patients with CP have numerous oral health problems. Neuromuscular disturbances can affect oral health significantly; they may result in changes of the orofacial region's structure and may affect the development of parafunctional habits, including feeding problems, difficulty maintaining oral hygiene (OH), and barriers to oral care access. Malocclusions and tooth wear are common. Experience of dental trauma is also highly prevalent due to instability as a result of neuromuscular defects or seizures (Du et al. 2010).

Children with CP display the same oral pathology as healthy persons. However, they present a higher susceptibility to several oro-dental diseases (dental caries, periodontal disease, dental trauma, malocclusion, bruxism, temporomandibular joint disorders, enamel hypoplasia, abnormal oral habits - tongue thrust, mouth breathing, drooling etc.) due to the abnormal neuromuscular coordination of the tongue, lips, and cheeks and to the low level and the reduced quality of the oral care. The treatment of CP is complex and multidisciplinary, consisting in general (kinetotherapy, surgical interventions, myorelaxants medication) and oral treatment (behavior management, prophylactic, curative) (Sedky 2017).