Hyperactive Children are at Risk of Dental Caries -An Analytical Study

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is well recognized in western countries, but there were no much reports of ADHD from India. Aim: To determine the relationship of ADHD with dental caries. Materials & Method : A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out among 120 children aged around 8-15 years who were randomly selected from normal and special schools located in Chennai city. The children were categorized as ADHD according to the criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).The questionnaire was given to parents and teachers. It included details of DSM- IV criteria, age, sex, demographic details, past dental history, hours diet chart and any medication taken previously. The oral hygiene status was assessed using Oral Hygiene index simplified (OHI-S) and the caries experience was recorded using DMFT index. Categorical data were compared by the Chi-square test. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated with logistic regression. A multivariate analysis was carried out to adjust for gender, dental caries status of primary and permanent teeth. Results : Males are more in ADHD group when compared to females. Oral Hygiene Status of ADHD group was significantly better than control group. ADHD children were 3.1 times more odds of getting dental caries than children in the control group