Toothbrushing and Children with Significant Disabilities

Since occupational therapist's may teach tooth brushing for self care here are two recent research studies of interest that were published:

1. The results from a study of 176 individuals (76 had spastic cerebral palsy and 89 had no neurological impairment) indicated that intellectual disability can be considered a contributing factor for the development of dental cavities in patients with cerebral palsy.  The degree of motor impairment did not effect the development of cavities. 

2.  Brain and Development published research on the first report of passive tooth brushing seizures in an 11 year old girl with with severe mental retardation, hypotonic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. There has been reports of rare seizures that are induced when brushing one's own teeth but this is the first report of seizures from someone else brushing another person's teeth.

References:
1.  Moreira RN, Alcântara CE, Mota-Veloso I, Marinho SA, Ramos-Jorge ML, Oliveira-Ferreira F. Does intellectual disability affect the development of dental caries in patients with cerebral palsy? Res Dev Disabil. 2012 Apr 19;33(5):1503-1507. [Epub ahead of print]

2. Kumada T, Nishii R, Higashi T, Miyajima T, Saito K, Hiejima I, Nozaki F, Hayashi A, Fujii T. Passive toothbrushing-induced seizures: Report of a severely disabled girl. Brain Dev. 2012 Apr 18. [Epub ahead of print]