Oral Manifestations in Down Syndrome Patients: Clinical Evaluation of 104 Patients

Down syndrome is a frequent form of mental retardation associated with characteristic craniofacial features and many somatic abnormalities due to a number of chromosomal aberrations. The features of Down syndrome patients haven't been extensively studied in Indian scenario. Thus the present work, is an attempt done to study these children

To identify the orofacial changes and reason out the cause for the same and to compare the findings of Indian Down syndrome children with those recorded in literature.

A total of 104 non-institutionalized Down syndrome cases were selected on the basis of previous karyotyping records that were retrieved from the record of respected institutions.

Most of the cases had palmer crease (80.7%), mucocutaneous manifestations (9.6%), hypothyroidism (5.76%), neuromuscular hypotonia (67.3%) and musculoskeletal abnormality (0.96%). Characteristic craniofacial findings, such as flat occiput, a flattened facial appearance, anteriorly and posteriorly flattened head, dysplastic ears, small nose, depressed nasal bridge, protruding tongue, and high-arched palate were noted. Dental abnormalities consisted of hypodontia (25.9%), microdontia (18.3%), crown variation (9.61%) and lastly supernumerary teeth (3.8%). There was a high prevalence of caries activity and periodontal diseases in these patients. There was increased prevalence of malalignments and class III malocclusion.

The prominent findings of flat nasal bridge, hypertelorism, high arched palate and fissured tongue in our study, could be used as reliable clinical markers to diagnose this condition. A further investigation is indicated in regard to comparison of children with Down syndrome with that of average normal children.