Date Presented 04/03/2025
Oral health is integral to well-being. This poster will describe dental professionals’ knowledge and utilization of sensory-based strategies in pediatric dentistry. OTs should be part of the multidisciplinary oral health team.
Primary Author and Speaker: Leah I. Stein Duker
Additional Authors and Speakers: Shannon Roux
Contributing Authors: Lily Shkhyan, Jose Polido
PURPOSE: Children with special health care needs (CSHCNs) have poor oral health and greater oral care challenges compared to their typically developing peers. Prior research links these challenges to sensory over-responsivity which can be exacerbated during dental care. However, little is known about the use of sensory-based strategies in the dental environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine dental professionals’ knowledge and utilization of sensory-based strategies during pediatric dental care.
DESIGN/METHOD: This cross-sectional study utilized snowball sampling to recruit U.S. dental professionals treating children to complete an online survey (n=46 items presented to all respondents; up to 56 additional items presented as follow-up). Data were analyzed descriptively using SAS.
RESULTS: Dental respondents (n=550) were overwhelmingly female (62%), White (75%), treated CSHCNs often or very often (70%), and were familiar with sensory-based strategies across sensory modalities (i.e., visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, tactile, vestibular; ≥66%). More than half of participants utilized at least one strategy for ≥50% of dental treatments for CSHCNs. The majority of participants perceived that these sensory-based strategies were moderately-extremely effective for their patients (≥85%), preferred to use individually-tailored strategies (62%), and believed these techniques were compatible with other commonly-implemented dental strategies (77%).
CONCLUSION: Results suggest that most pediatric dentists are familiar with and utilize sensory-based strategies for CSHCNs. Sensory-based strategies are simple, low-cost, and easily implementable in the dental setting and may improve dental experiences for CSHCNs.
IMPACT: This study contributes knowledge about the use of sensory integration concepts in dentistry. OT can be key players in oral health, spearheading collaborations to investigate adapting the dental experience for CSHCNs.
References
Stein Duker, L. I., Como, D. H., Jolette, C., Vigen, C., Gong, C. L., Williams, M. E., Polido, J. C., Floríndez-Cox, L. I., & Cermak, S. A. (2023). Sensory adaptations to improve physiological and behavioral distress during dental visits in autistic children: A randomized crossover trial. JAMA Network Open, 6, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.16346
Stein Duker, L. I. (2019). Adapting oral care protocols to support children with sensory sensitivities: Occupational Therapy and Dentistry. In T. Nelson & J. R. De Bord (Eds.), Dental care for children with special needs: A clinical guide (pp. 77–98). Switzerland: Springer.
Como, D. H., Stein Duker, L. I., Polido, J. C., & Cermak, S. A. (2021). Oral health and autism spectrum disorders: A unique collaboration between Dentistry and Occupational Therapy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010135
Stein Duker, L. I., Floríndez, L. I., Como, D. H., Tran, C. F., Henwood, B. F., Polido, J. C., & Cermak, S. A. (2019). Strategies for success: A qualitative study of caregiver and dentist approaches to improving oral care for children with autism. Pediatric Dentistry, 41, 4E–12E.
