Abstract
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the portion of physical disability was 51.4% which was the highest among the registered disabled in December 2015, followed by visual disability(10.1%), disability of the brain lesions(10.0%), hearing disability(10.0%). The aim of this study is to investigate the types of disability in patients with disabilities visiting the Pediatric Dentistry, Chonbuk National University Dental Hospital in 2016. Of the patients who visited the pediatric dentistry, 196 patients (7.5%) had disabilities, and 19 patients had two or more disabilities. Twelve patients (6.1%) had both disabilities of brain lesion and intellectual disorder. Of the 177 patients with only one disability, 54 patients (30.5%) had physical disorders and 123 patients (69.4%) had psychiatric disorders. In psychiatric disorders, intellectual disorder was the most with 98 patients (55.3%), followed by autistic disorder with 23 patients (12.9%). In physical disorders, disability of brain lesion was the most with 37 patients (20.9%), followed by speech disability with 8 patients (4.5%). In this study, as a result of analyzing the types of disability with the patients who visited the Pediatric Dentistry of Chonbuk National University Dental Hospital, most of them had either intellectual disorder, disability of brain lesion, or autistic disorder. Dentists need to understand their general and dental characteristics to treat children and adolescents with disabilities. Since the most chief complaint of the patients was dental caries, early interventions should be made by dentist to reduce the incidence of the disease.
