Intellectual Disability and Dental Services: Experience from Israel

INTRODUCTION People with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) have often been neglected by the dental profession, because of a variety of barriers, like insufficient professional knowledge and experience to treat this population, lack of cooperation by the person with IDD, lack of awareness by carers, inadequate facilities, and inadequate compensation for treating this population, who takes longer time to approach, assess, and treat (1, 2). In general, this population has poor oral health and oral hygiene. Data indicate that people with IDD have more untreated caries, higher prevalence of gingivitis, and other periodontal diseases affecting their ability to chew, speak, and look attractive (3). With increasing age and life expectancy this population is in need of good dental care on a regular basis to prevent disease and improve quality of life (4, 5). In another publication (6), we looked at a systematic review of 27 original papers (7) that showed this population has poorer oral hygiene, higher prevalence, and severity of periodontal disease. Concerning the rate of caries in this population, it was observed the same as or higher than the general population, but untreated caries was found constantly higher. Down syndrome and people with IDD unable to cooperate with routine dental care were at high risk for oral health problems (6, 7).