Abstract
Autism is defined as a rare and severe psychiatric disorder of childhood. It is marked by severe difficulties in communicating, and forming relationships with other people, in developing language, repetitive and limited patterns of behaviour and obsessive resistance to small changes in familiar surroundings. Hence, affected children offer a special challenge to the practising dentist. To meet this challenge, it is necessary to understand the condition and how to manage its varying presentations in different individuals. The purpose of this article is to review the literature on the topic of autism with an emphasis on the dental perspective.