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Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) sometimes display an inability for information sharing through functional verbal communication. This may interfere with professional oral care. These children tend to process visual information more efficiently than auditory information. Picture schedules can briefly suffice as visual cues serving a vital function in helping children with ASD to function in a particular setting such as an oral care environment. A visual communication implement such as a dental communication board was developed in this study to allow for a facilitated communication process between the patient with ASD and the oral care professional. This study entailed two main phases, namely the selection of symbols for the construction of a dental communication board and the small scale testing of the board in a clinical setting. This study incorporated a combination of a quantitative non-experimental descriptive survey combined with a concurrent mixed method survey design which retrieved data for both close-ended and open-ended questions from the same respondent. A quantitative survey questionnaire at a structured dental seminar presentation was employed for the first phase, and a combination of a quantitative and qualitative questionnaire was employed for the second phase of this study. Documented responses were collated and analyzed using frequency and thematic analysis. The most frequently selected symbols were retrieved after a frequency analysis and displayed on a color coded background to distinguish the various categories on the dental communication board. The thematic analysis resulted in the emergence of three main themes, namely the strengths of the board; weakness of the board and suggestions. This study anticipates the incorporation of a dental communication board as a visual mode using graphic symbols to augment expressive and receptive language in an oral care environment to facilitate professional oral care for children with ASD., Author(s): Magandhree Naidoo [sup.1] , Shenuka Singh [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.16463.36, 0000 0001 0723 4123, University of KwaZulu-Natal, , Westville Campus, Durban, South Africa (2) grid.16463.36, 0000 0001 0723 [...]

For Rankin Skinner, DMD, it was ballet that got him thinking about fixing teeth in Ecuador. Skinner, who was volunteering in that country in 1996 with Partners of the Americas, [...]

Children can present special psychological and physical problems for dentists, who may need to develop skills for treating them. Standards set out in the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry for pediatric dental patients include recommendations for: communicative management, conscious sedation, general anesthesia, hand-over-mouth technique, nitrous oxide-oxygen inhalation sedation and physical restraint. Communicative management involves techniques such as voice control, distraction, positive reinforcement, tell-show-do technique, and nonverbal communication. While these approaches may seem to reflect aspects of general communication, parents may have firm ideas regarding how the dentist should talk to the child. Negative comments should be directed at children's behavior, not at the children themselves. Dentists should be skilled in the use of any drugs they may use for conscious sedation. Behavior management is preferable to conscious sedation; if the former cannot be carried out, it may be advisable to skip the treatment. If sedation must be used, a consent form should be completed by the parent and careful records of the treatment should be kept. The required personnel should be present (people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and emergency equipment must be at hand. Proper training in operating room protocol is essential before general anesthetics are used. The hand-over-mouth technique can encourage communication, but it requires parental consent. Nitrous oxide also requires consent and, again, records of the treatment dose should be kept. Commercially available physical restraints can be used. It is absolutely essential to obtain informed parental consent when using these methods. Parents should understand what is proposed and what any risks are. If dentists do not obtain this consent, they may be exposed to civil and criminal liability. Some dental practitioners specialize in pediatric care and difficult cases should be referred to them. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)