Barriers to Oral Health for Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Parents, carers, and dental practitioners treating individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) identify difficulties in caring for individuals with ASD, resulting in a higher incidence of unmet dental needs. The aim of this scoping review is to identify the existing research relating to the barriers to oral health care perceived by patients and reported by parents, carers, and dental practitioners. The studies were identified through database searches conducted in DOSS, Medline and PubMed with relevant keywords. The barriers were identified within the included studies and classified by themes. A total of 254 studies were retrieved in initial search. Subsequent to duplicates removal and title/abstract screening, 47 studies were further evaluated based on predetermined criteria resulting in 16 articles meeting the criteria for inclusion in this scoping review. Barriers identified were categorised under five broad themes: difficulty in accessing suitable care(n=7), negative prior experiences(n=5), parental perceptions of the impact of ASD(n=8), clinician bias(n=2) and clinician education(n=7). The findings in this review support the need for development of an educational curriculum for dental practitioners from undergraduate to postgraduate levels to improve the provision of equitable oral health care to individuals with ASD.