Despite previous studies suggesting children with special needs tend to have more dental problems and less access to dental care, a new study in the Journal of the American Dental Association has found the opposite is the case.

In fact, according to the study, most children with special health care needs don't have higher dental expenses than other children, and they are just as likely as others to visit a dentist.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, looked at information from a 2004 national survey of 8,518 children. Just under 20 per cent of these children had special health care needs. Compared with other children, those with special health care needs were more likely to be older, male, from low-income families and have insurance.

Children with special health care needs were just as likely as other children to have dental expenses during the previous year, including preventative, diagnostic and restorative care.

Several factors had no effect on whether children got dental care. Dental visits did not vary by the child's race, age or insurance type. The parents' income and education level also did not affect whether children went to the dentist.

However, the study found that only 42 per cent of special-needs children and 43 per cent of other children received preventive dental care.

According to the study, access was not the issue, despite other studies suggesting access was a key issue for children´s oral health. The authors concluded that special-needs children may be better served by visiting pediatric dentists and other dentists with targetted training. These dentists are in short supply in some areas of the United States.