Oral health of children and adolescents in institutional shelters:

an integrative literature review

Abstract

Introduction: Institutionalized children and adolescents may have worse oral health conditions, difficulty in accessing dental services and little or no contact with preventive oral health programs. Objective: To provide an overview of the oral health situation of this population. Methodology: This is an integrative literature review based on the PRISMA methodology. The descriptors used were: child, adolescent, institutionalization, oral health and dental care, their synonyms and equivalent terms. The search was carried out in October 2023 in the Medline, LILACS and SciELO databases, including works in English, Portuguese or Spanish, without limiting the time of publication. After identification, the initial selection was made through analysis of the titles and abstracts by two independent reviewers, followed by full reading of the selected publications. Results: Seven articles were included, revealing a scarcity of studies on the subject in question. Conclusion: It was found that the oral health situation of the sheltered population in terms of hygiene, caries and periodontal disease is poor and that there is a need to improve access to dental services as a way of having a positive impact on the health of this population, as well as implementing preventive programs in sheltered institutions in order to raise awareness among both professionals and the sheltered population.

Keywords: Foster Child; Oral Health; Domestic Violence.