Caregivers‘ oral health health knowledge and attitude toward their children with disabilities in Vilnius, Lithuania

The relevance of the problem and aim of the research: Children with disabilities are a vulnerable group in society, which have high risk to develop health problems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate caregiver‘s oral health knowledge and attitude toward their children with disabilities in Vilnius, Lithuania. Material and methods: Study involved 206 caregivers (parents or guardians) with children with disabilities. They answered 24 questions about child’s oral hygiene, eating habits and questionnaire assessed caregiver‘s knowledge of oral health care. Statistical analysis performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS (version 25). Chosen significance level α = 0.05. Differences considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Results: Children with disabilities who live in Vilnius most often have orthodontic problems (34 percent), have excess plaque (7 percent), caries damaged teeth (4,5 percent). A 91 percent of responded that they consider that regular visits to dentist is necessary and 83 percent stated that children need a professional oral hygiene. A 85 percent responded correctly that sweet food causes teeth caries. A 75 percent of caregivers would like to be better informed about oral care, as normally they receive information from medical staff (67 percent) or finding advice online (34 percent). Conclusions: A 39 percent of children with disability have oral health issues. In this study sociodemographic factors (caregiver’s education, children age and caregiver’s age) had no impact towards child’s oral health. In Vilnius, caregivers with children with disabilities have satisfactory knowledge about child’s oral health and attitude towards oral health prevention