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Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show worse oral health than their peers. Their access to health services is, at present, inadequate: few high-quality interventions have been designed and implemented to improve their care procedures so far. The purpose of this study is to describe an experience of dental care supported by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), for children with ASD in a public health service. In our study, 59 children (mean age 9.9 years, SD = 5.43) participated in the MyDentist project. It integrates classic dental care techniques with new practices for desensitization and fear control, delivered through an enhanced customized ICT-based intervention aiming at familiarizing the child with ASD with the medical setting and procedures. Two questionnaires were filled out by parents to describe the acceptability of the MyDentist experience for their children. Significant results were shown from T0 (before initiating MyDentist) to T1 (after 6 months of the MyDentist experience) regarding improved oral hygiene and cooperation during dental treatments. Families positively assessed the use of ICT support. In conclusion, the project demonstrated acceptability by parents, suggesting that public health dental care and prevention can be successfully implemented without resorting to costly pharmacological interventions (with potential side effects), taking better care of children&rsquo, s health.

Children with autism perceive sensory experiences differently and have problems accepting unknown social contexts. In a dental care setting, there are many strong sound-visual stimuli, which are usually not found in known environments such as home or school. This usually upsets a child with autism, often forcing dentists to administer an anesthetic even to perform normal dental hygiene. In recent years, technology-enhanced systems and apps have been developed to help people with autism adapt to new contexts and cope with distressing social situations. In this paper, we present a web application (MyDentist) which provides dentists, parents and children with a set of resources to teach children with autism the proper oral procedures at home and correct behavior during dental visits. MyDentist includes multimodal games and activities to lighten children’s tension and to make them familiar with dental procedures. Games and activities can be personalized according to child’s needs and preferences. Professionals may also take and collect photos and videos during dental visits, making them accessible to parents and caregivers in the private profile of each child.