Dental care for children and young people who have a hearing impairment

Aim The aim was to determine whether there are indications that hearing-imp aired children experience difficulties in accessing dental care and/or in r eceiving dental treat ment. Method The study was carried out by means of a questionnaire. Parents of 84 children contacted through the National Deaf Children's Society returned c ompleted questionnaires. Results Eighty-two children (98%) had visited a dentist. Nearly two-thirds (63%) were reported to have at least one problem in communication while rec eiving dental care, this increased significantly as the severity of the hea ring impairment increased. Fifty-nine children (70%) reported having, at le ast one problem in communication at the doctors'. Fifty-two (62%) reported that the dentist had worn a mask while communicating with the child and 48 (57%) that there had been background noise in the surgery during appointmen ts. Conclusions Removing masks while talking, reducing background noise and lea rning to use simple signs may improve communication with hearing-impaired c hildren.