Intellectual disability: scientific literature about orofacial myofunctional characteristics

Abstract

Introduction: Intellectual disability is associated with multiple etiologic factors, with reports ofstructural and functional alterations of the stomatognathic system. Objective: To review the literatureregarding the scientific production and the characteristics of orofacial disorders miofunctional of peoplewith intellectual disabilities. Method: National and international journals in databases Lilacs, Medline,Scielo and Google Scholar between 2000 and 2012 were analyzed, by means of the terms oral motor,mental, tongue, lip, swallowing and chewing, being excluded those who did not mention if the individualsin the sample had some intellectual disability. Results: Regarding the characteristics of the scientificproduction, there was the prevalence of clinical studies with description of syndromic cases; the ageof the studied subjects comprised between six months and 67 years (greater focus on childhood) andprevalence of the male gender. The type of intervention most described was the assessment / diagnosis,with higher production in 2010. Despite the heterogeneity of the studies, the changes cited were inswallowing (in 80% of selected texts), in tone (64%), structures of the stomatognathic system and speech(60% each), in posture and mobility of the articulators (48% each) in chewing (44%) and respiration(36%). Conclusion: The Brazilian production has investigated more diligently, during the last decade,the association between disorders and orofacial miofunctional intellectual disabilities, especially insyndromic clinical cases. All searches cited structural or functional abnormalities of the stomatognathicsystem, suggesting that studies in this area are essential for better understanding of the issues involvingthe neurologic, anathomic and physicopatologic aspects of these disabilities.