Access to dental care for people with disabilities in Britanny

Introduction/Background Oral health care is an important element in the care of people with disabilities. We conducted a survey among users of two French health networks: the BreizhPC network and the specific dental network to measure the impact of these on access to dental care. Material and method A survey of dental care in terms of prevention and treatment was sent to 1500 users of the two networks. Results In total, 323 users answered the questionnaire, equally divided between the two networks, with a mean age of 38.8 ± 16 years; 54.4% live in institutions, 45.6% at home most often with their parents; 86.8% are single; 91.4% of the population benefits from a dental follow-up, most often in town offices. An accompanying person is most often necessary for the care. Sedation was necessary for 14.9% of users and general anesthesia for 14, 2%, in majority for behavioral handicap. The most common treatments are conservative and preventive care. Users are very satisfied with their care, particularly with regard to pain. At the level of oral hygiene, brushing is performed at least once a day for 87.4% of users and remains the most frequent prevention treatment. Prevention messages are essentially delivered by the practitioner. Conclusion This study found a satisfactory access to dental care of the users. For comparison, the survey carried out by the UDAPEI on the same territory in 2015 on 185 establishments found a rate of 68.4% of dental follow-up in their population. This highlights the importance of health care networks in the access to care for people with disabilities.