Five year follow-up of non-invasive treatment for self-inflicted oral trauma in a child with cerebral palsy

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebral palsy involves loss or impairment of motor function attributed to non-progressive disturbances occurring in the developing fetal or infant brain. Self-inflicted oral trauma is a recurrent parafunctional habit in individuals with cerebral palsy. Objective: Describe two treatment modes for self-inflicted oral trauma in a 6-year-old male patient with cerebral palsy over a 5-year follow-up period. Case presentation: The child had been having pain due to injuries to the mouth floor and lingual frenum regions. Initially, low-level laser therapy was applied to accelerate the healing process of the wounds. Five years later, the child started to present worse oral injuries and placement of a fixed oral appliance was proposed. Intraoral examination showed that the wounds had healed completely in response to the oral appliance. Conclusions: Different therapies may be useful to control the recurrence of self-inflicted oral injuries.

Keywords

• cerebral palsy
• tongue habits
• soft tissue injuries.