Dental general anaesthetic and access to dental services for young people with intellectual disabilities, autism and other educational additional support needs : a population-based record linkage cohort study
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Sherriff, Andrea and Stewart, Ryan and Wright, William and Docherty, Lucy and Dudman, Katie and Young, Robin and Cairns, Deborah and Henderson, Angela and Conway, David I (2026) Dental general anaesthetic and access to dental services for young people with intellectual disabilities, autism and other educational additional support needs : a population-based record linkage cohort study. Community Dental Health. ISSN 0265-539X (https://doi.org/10.1177/0265539x261450852)
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Abstract
Objective: There is evidence to show that young children with educational additional support needs (ASN) have poorer oral health and less access to primary care dental services than their peers however, less is known about the oral health and dental service access of young people with ASN as they embark on secondary education. This study investigates the rates of tooth extraction under general anaesthesia and primary care dental attendance in young people with educational ASN attending secondary school in Scotland. Methods: A multi-cohort study of 214,142 young people followed up from age 12 to 16 years in Scotland using data linkage of three routine databases: Pupil Census; Scottish Morbidity Records; and Management Information and Dental Accounting System. Rates of tooth extraction under general anaesthetic in hospital and access to primary care dental services were compared among young people with ASN to those with no recorded ASN. Results: Tooth extraction under general anaesthesia was higher among young people with autism (Adjusted Risk Ratio (aRR) = 2.48; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.85 to 3.25) and with intellectual disabilities (aRR = 1.76; 95% CI = 1.43 to 2.16) compared to those with no ASN. Regular attendance at primary dental care was less likely for young people with any ASN, particularly among those with intellectual disabilities and social-related ASN. Conclusions: Young people with ASN experience greater inequalities in oral health and dental care, which would also include preventive interventions, than their peers without ASN. Early intervention through national oral health improvement programmes such as Childsmile may help reduce these inequalities.
ORCID iDs
Sherriff, Andrea, Stewart, Ryan
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8450-1491, Wright, William, Docherty, Lucy, Dudman, Katie, Young, Robin, Cairns, Deborah, Henderson, Angela and Conway, David I;
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Item type: Article ID code: 96440 Dates: DateEvent28 May 2026Published28 May 2026Published Online1 May 2026AcceptedSubjects: Medicine > Dentistry Department: Faculty of Science > Mathematics and Statistics Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 08 Jun 2026 09:00 Last modified: 30 Jun 2026 11:52 URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/96440