Caries Risk Assessment in Students With Disabilities

Abstract

Background. Dental caries is the sixth-highest health problem in Indonesia. This condition has a negative impact on the quality of life of people. Therefore, we need to reduce caries by identified the risk of caries. Most of the children with disabilities have a dependency on people surrounding them, including the process of cleaning their teeth and mouth that might lead to the possibility of having caries. Aims. The research aims to identify the caries risk of students with disabilities aged 6-12-year old in SLB Negeri 1 Bantul Yogyakarta.Methods. The method of this study is descriptive observational with a total sampling technique. This study population of this study was all students aged 6-20-year old, with a visual disability, hearing disability, and orthopedically disability in SLB Negeri 1 Bantul Yogyakarta. There are 54 students who are eligible according to the inclusion criteria. Caries risk is measured by the Caries Assessment Tool (CAT) released by The American Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (AAPD). Results. The results are 46 out of 54 students SLBN 1 Bantul have high caries risk (85%), and two students have moderate caries risk (3,7%), and six students have low caries risk (11%). Conclusion It can be concluded that most of the students with disabilities in SLB Negeri 1 Bantul have a high risk of caries. Keyword: Caries risk, visual disability, hearing disability and orthopedically disability