Abstract
Purpose : The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health state of disabled people with mental retardation in an attempt to pave the way for oral health care planning geared toward the disabled. Subjects and Method : The subjects in this study were 46 mentally retarded people who attended rehabilitation centers for the disabled in the city of Wonju, Gangwon Province. After a survey was conducted, the collected data were analyzed with SPSS 13.0 program, and frequency analysis, percentage, ANOVA and t-test were utilized. Results : The findings of the study were as follows: 1. The simplified oral hygiene index of the mentally retarded people was 1.32, which was on the average. 2. The decayed teeth index and decayed teeth rate of the mentally retarded people were respectively 13.48 and 48.13 percent, which were above the average. 3. The decayed surface index and decayed surface rate of the mentally retarded people were respectively 27.17 and 17.39 percent. 4. The simplified debris index of the mentally retarded people significantly varied with gender(p<.01), and missing teeth index(p<.05) and missing surface index differed significantly with age. Filled surface index was significantly different according to the region. Conclusion : The findings of the study illustrated that their indexes related dental caries experience were high. In order to promote the oral health of the disabled with mental retardation, prolonged research should be implemented, and a dental checkup should be carried out on a regular basis by specialists. Preventive care and early treatment should be provided, and the development of customized oral health education programs tailored to different sorts of disabilities and oral health control methods is required.
