The oral health in different groups of adults with mental handicaps attending Birmingham (UK) adult training centres.

The policies of normalisation and integration into the community of people with mental handicap have significant implications for dental care. Before dental services can be planned, the extent of the problem needs to be identified. A total of 382 people with mental handicap living in the community and attending day centres was examined; 52 of these people were edentulous. The mean age of the dentate adults was 30.9 years and the mean DMFT was 9.59. This was low in comparison with data available from national studies but when component parts of the DMF were evaluated it was apparent that far less restorative care had been received by the adults with mental handicap. There were also significant differences in the mean DMFT between mentally handicapped people who had additional handicaps; the mean DMFT for people with Down's syndrome was 10.95, whilst those mentally handicapped people who also had epilepsy had a mean DMFT of 11.19. The oral hygiene and periodontal condition was also poor and there were significant differences between the sub-groups. However, despite people with Down's syndrome having lower levels of plaque, they showed evidence of greater periodontal destruction. When resources are allocated, consideration should be given to raising the oral health of adults with mental handicap up to at least the same level as that of the rest of the population.