Prevalence of Periodontal Disease in Young Adults with Down Syndrome

The most prevalent stage in the development of periodontal diseases is the adolescence, but in the patients with Down syndrome there is a tendency to present a slight increase in it, this is due to a deficient oral hygiene. Reason why the objective of this research is to determine the prevalence of periodontal disease in young people with Down syndrome between the ages of 15 and 25 years at the Carabobo Bolivarian Workshop of Labor Education, located in Valencia, Carabobo State, Venezuela. Period from 2011 to 2012. Being a descriptive research, under a non-experimental design, whose sample is thirty (30) young people who presented Periodontal Disease (EP), where their parents and representatives were made known and explained about what an informed consent was, in order for them to sign the authorization to include their children in our study. For getting the data, the observation guide was used as observation technique and as an instrument of data collection the observation guide whose validity was of content through the judgment of experts. According to the results, it was possible to observe a high prevalence of periodontal disease that stands out more in the masculine gender than the female one. On the other hand, the abundant presence of Dental Biofilm, increase of material alba and slight presence of dental calculus in all the ages studied which lead to a poor oral hygiene. It can be concluded that young people with Down syndrome are generally vulnerable to show Periodontal Disease due to poor oral hygiene and bad habits of daily tooth brushing; they need help from parents and relatives to reduce the incidence of this disease.