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. 2017 Sep-Oct;33(5):1156-1160.
doi: 10.12669/pjms.335.13554.

Occurrence of oral habits among preschool children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Fares S Al-Sehaibany  1
Affiliations

Occurrence of oral habits among preschool children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Fares S Al-Sehaibany. Pak J Med Sci. 2017 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Objective: To determine occurrence of oral habits among Saudi preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and compare it with healthy preschool children.

Methods: This study was conducted over a 14-months period in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The sample consisted of two groups; a study group (SG) of 150 ASD children, and a control group (CG) of age- and gender-matched 150 healthy children. The parents of the children in both the groups were administered a questionnaire that included questions about the children's demographic information and previous or persistent oral habits.

Results: The prevalence of oral habits was higher (87.3%) among the SG children as compared to CG children (49.3%). The most prevalent oral habit among the SG was bruxism (n = 82; 54.7%), followed by object biting (n = 67; 44.7%) and mouth breathing (n = 40; 26.7 %). Among the CG; the most prevalent oral habit was mouth breathing (n = 40; 26.7%) followed by nail biting (n=18; 12%) and object biting (n = 7; 4.7%). The prevalence of bruxism, object biting, thumb sucking and tongue biting was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the SG than the CG.

Conclusions: The prevalence of oral habits was higher in the ASD group children than the healthy children.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Oral habits; Preschool children.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest: None

Figures

Fig.1
Fig.1
The prevalence of oral habits in the SG and CG. SG: study group, CG: control group, TS: thumb sucking, PS: pacifier sucking, TB: tongue biting, LB: lip biting, OB: object biting, NB: nail biting, MB: mouth breathing, BX: bruxism.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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