Oral Health of Children with Intractable Epilepsy Attending the UK National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (Report‪)‬

Introduction Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in children [Office for National Statistics UK, 2003]. It has been estimated that in Europe, approximately 6 per 1,000 of the population have active epilepsy [Forsgren et al., 2005], 40% of cases occurring in children. Some 30% of cases of epilepsy are difficult to manage and are associated with moderate to severe learning difficulties. It has been reported that children with epilepsy have a high level of dental caries DMFS [Storhaug and Host, 1987]. This may be attributed to a number of factors including long term use of sugar-based medication, for example sodium valporate [Roberts and Roberts, 1979; Maguire et al., 1996]. Reduced salivary secretion and lowered buffering capacity associated with diphenylhydantoin may also contribute to an increase in dental caries [Lundstrom et al., 1982].