IF a child with cerebral palsy (CP) is a challenge for the families and care-givers, the one affected with CP accompanied by drooling pose even more functional, social, physiological and clinical problems.
According to a rough estimate while 0.5-0.7 percent of all infants born have CP, 13 percent of Indian CP kids show severe signs of drooling.
The kids might suffer from inefficient swallowing, lack of awareness of built up saliva in mouth, impaired neuromuscular control and dysfunctional voluntary and oral motor activity.
Till 4-5 years, though a conservative treatment process can be followed, if drooling continues after that, surgery remains the only option.
According to Dr KK Handa, Associate Professor ENT, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, drooling can be managed through some surgical process and he showed it how— at a live workshop at Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) here, recently.
Under Sialology (science of salivary glands in the body) one can re-route the excessive saliva in a CP child, he said, adding, before the surgical process, one has to look for the number of clothing a child needs or any indication of ‘peri-oral’ skin infection, tongue, tonsil, adenoid size or biting deformity, if any.
After reaching the prescribed age (4-5 years) if drooling persists for six months or more then some conservative oral and physical therapies might be tried before the surgical procedure, Dr Handa added. The surgical cure for drooling is done by re-routing the saliva originating from the gland. However, if the drooling condition is due to any obstruction or tumour then the gland may be surgically removed, he adds.
According to ENT surgeon Dr KK Samantray of KIMS, even Sialolo-endoscopy has come up where through endoscopic tools, surgeons now can be able to manage drooling in children suffering from cerebral palsy.
