Objectives: 1) to determine if children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encounter difficulties accessing dental, 2) to identify barriers that diminish access to dental care for this population. Methods: This descriptive study is based on a web-survey conducted at the Geneva Centre for Autism in Toronto between November 2008 and March 2009. Forty-nine multiple choice questions including open-ended fields were developed. Parents of children with ASD (ages 5–18) completed the survey. Results: The majority of participants visited a dentist regularly (71%) and had private dental insurance (64%). Parents/caregivers were more likely to have difficulties finding a dentist as unmarried parents (OR=3.7, P=0.075) or when their level of education was high school/less (OR=10.4, P=0.043). Conclusions: The majority of children/adolescents with ASD had access to dental care. Difficulties accessing dental care were related to family structure, parents’ education and their perception of dentists’ knowledge of ASD.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/24524 |
| Date | 21 July 2010 |
| Creators | Abbasnezhad-Ghadi, Banafsheh |
| Contributors | Lawrence, Herenia P. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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