Dental Caries in Children and Youth With Cerebral Palsy: A Nationwide Study of Oral Health in Aotearoa New Zealand
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Authors
Sorhage, Alexandra
Thompson, John MD
Wilson, Jessica
Lansdown, Karen
Agnew, Caitlin
Hogan, Amy
Mackey, Anna H
Stott, Susan
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Wiley
Abstract
Aim
To assess oral health outcomes for children with cerebral palsy (CP) in Aotearoa New Zealand and examine whether the level of motor impairment, using the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), is associated with increased dental caries at ages 5 and 12 years.
Methods
Longitudinal study linking clinical data from New Zealand Cerebral Palsy Register (NZCPR) for 1220 individuals with CP (aged ≤ 21 years) to national Community Oral Health Service records, 2008–2023. Oral health outcomes were measured using dmft/DMFT indices (decayed, missing, filled teeth) for primary and permanent dentitions.
Results
981 (80%) participants had ≥ 1 dmft/DMFT records. 306/429 (71%) with recorded dmft at age 5 years and 167/230 (73%) with recorded DMFT at age 12 years were caries-free. Caries-free rates did not vary across GMFCS levels. Adjusting for confounders, dental decay was more common in children of NZ Māori, Pacific Peoples and Asian ethnicities compared to European children at age 5 years, [OR 3.60 (1.91, 6.80), OR 5.11 (2.36, 11.05), OR 3.06 (1.38, 6.79) respectively] and in NZ Māori at 12 years [OR 3.18 (1.42, 7.12)].
Conclusions
GMFCS was not associated with poorer oral health outcomes. However, significant ethnic disparities highlight the need for culturally responsive oral health interventions.
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Keywords
1105 Dentistry, Dentistry, 3203 Dentistry, cerebral palsy, children, oral health, inequities
Source
Special Care in Dentistry, ISSN: 0275-1879 (Print); 1754-4505 (Online), Wiley, 46(5). doi: 10.1111/scd.70245
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© 2026 The Author(s). Special Care in Dentistry published by Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article.
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License