Table 3.
Comparison of oral health behaviors between children with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development.
| Characteristics | ASD group (n=144) | TD group (n=228) | p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | |||
| Oral hygiene practices | Type of brushing§ | <0.001*** | ||||
| Autonomous | 23/142 | 16.20% | 166/221 | 75.11% | ||
| Assisted | 48/142 | 33.80% | 11/221 | 4.98% | ||
| Both | 66/142 | 46.48% | 49/221 | 22.17% | ||
| Brushing frequency§ | <0.001*** | |||||
| Never | 13/144 | 9.03% | 1/228 | 0.44% | ||
| Sometimes | 16/144 | 11.11% | 1/228 | 0.44% | ||
| Once a day | 58/144 | 40.28% | 85/228 | 37.28% | ||
| Twice a day | 57/144 | 39.58% | 139/228 | 60.96% | ||
| Three times or more | 0/144 | 0.00% | 2/228 | 0.88% | ||
| Use of flouride toothpaste‡ | 0.32 | |||||
| Yes | 54/109 | 49.54% | 94/177 | 53.11% | ||
| No | 55/109 | 50.46% | 83/177 | 46.89% | ||
| Recent dental experience | Recent frequency to see a dentist§ | 0.004** | ||||
| Once in 1 month | 11/135 | 8.15% | 28/223 | 12.56% | ||
| Once in 3 months | 12/135 | 8.89% | 20/223 | 8.97% | ||
| Once in 6 months | 16/135 | 11.76% | 47/223 | 21.08% | ||
| Once in 1 year or more | 26/135 | 19.26% | 67/223 | 30.04% | ||
| Never | 70/135 | 51.85% | 61/223 | 27.35% | ||
| The previous dental experience§ | <0.001*** | |||||
| Very pleasant | 5/110 | 4.55% | 78/169 | 46.15% | ||
| Pleasant | 24/110 | 21.82% | 56/169 | 33.14% | ||
| Normal | 24/110 | 21.82% | 19/169 | 11.24% | ||
| Unpleasant | 41/110 | 37.27% | 11/169 | 6.51% | ||
| Very unpleasant | 16/110 | 14.55% | 5/169 | 2.96% | ||
| Reason for the dental visit | ||||||
| Routine examination‡ | 18/108 | 16.67% | 41/216 | 18.98% | 0.61 | |
| Dental caries‡ | 32/108 | 29.63% | 67/216 | 31.02% | 0.80 | |
| Bleeding gums‡ | 4/108 | 3.70% | 4/216 | 1.85% | 0.31 | |
| Surgical treatment‡ | 16/108 | 14.81% | 36/216 | 16.67% | 0.67 | |
| Other reason‡ | 21/108 | 19.44% | 43/216 | 19.91% | 0.92 | |
ASD, autism spectrum disorder; TD, typical development. ‡Calculated using chi-square test; §Calculated using Mann-Whitney U test. *Differences significant at p < 0.05; **Differences significant at p < 0.01; ***Differences significant at p < 0.001.