PREVALENCE AND AVERAGE OF SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN AGED 6-12 YEARS OLD WITH DENTAL CARIES AT SLB DENPASAR ON 2018

Background: Dental caries is a dental tissue disease that marked by tissue destruction, started from the surface of the tooth is email, dentine, and extended towards the pulp. Special needs children, namely children with physical and mental limitations who have limited physical, behavioral or emotional development conditions. Special needs children that can be grouped are; blind, deaf, mentally retarded, orthopedically handicapped/cerebral palsy, emotionally handicapped, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and multy handicapped. Problems that are often found in special needs children are dental caries and oral health. Objective: The aim of this study was to determined the prevalence and average of special needs children aged 6-12 years old with dental caries at SLB Denpasar on 2018. Materials and method: the research used was descriptive with a survey approach where the number of samples was 100 respondents. The survey approach was carried out using a questionnaire to discover the risk factors for special needs children with dental caries. Result: the results showed that the prevalence of special needs children aged 6-12 years old with dental caries at SLB Denpasar on 2018 reached 68% and those who were caries-free were 32% then the caries average was 2.5. Conclusion: The conclusion is prevalence of special needs children is high and the average is in the low category. The low average of special needs children with dental caries is due to parents behavioral factors about awareness of the children's dental health, oral hygiene and diet pattern factors. Therefore, the high prevalence of special needs children with dental caries is due to children's socio-economic factors.