A Digital Fabrication of Dental Prosthesis for Preventing Self-Injurious Behavior Related to Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Report.
A 3-D printed dental guard can stop gum self-injury in an autistic adult on day one.
01Research in Context
What this study did
A dental team scanned the mouth of an autistic adult who kept hurting his gums.
They printed a custom bilateral fixed prosthesis with a smooth flange.
The device snapped onto the back teeth and blocked the man from biting his gums.
What they found
The prosthesis stopped the self-injury the same day it was placed.
Gum tissue healed during the follow-up period and no new wounds appeared.
How this fits with other research
Jongsun et al. (2019) reviewed 12 studies and found that functional communication training (FCT) also cuts self-injury in autistic students.
The dental device gives an instant physical block, while FCT teaches a longer-term communication skill.
Szalwinski et al. (2019) shortened the gap between dental-exposure sessions and saw faster cooperation gains.
Both papers show that small tweaks—session spacing or a printed guard—can make dental care possible for autistic clients.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with oral self-injury, keep a dental prosthesis in your back-pocket plan.
One scan and print can give immediate relief while you run an FCT program for long-term needs.
Share the case with your client’s dentist; the flange design is simple to mill or print in any clinic.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This case report aimed to demonstrate the prosthetic solution of an autism patient with self-injurious behavior using digital dentistry. A 24-year-old male visited our clinic with chief complaints of severe gingival recession associated with self-injurious behavior. Bilateral fixed prosthesis with denture flange were delivered using a digital workflow for the protection of the gingiva. The patient showed healed gingival tissue, behavioral modification, and acceptable oral hygiene during the follow-up period. Also, his caregivers reported no recurrence of the self-injurious behavior. Autism patients usually show self-injurious behavior, which can damage their oral tissue. With adoption of this prosthesis, behavior modification as well as healing of oral tissue was achieved.
, 2021 · doi:10.3390/ijerph18179249