A comparison of oral hygiene status and dental caries experience among institutionalized visually impaired and hearing impaired children of age between 7 and 17 years in central India

AIM: The aim of this study is to compare the oral hygiene status and dental caries experience among institutionalized visually impaired and hearing impaired children of age between 7 and 17 years in Bhopal city of Madhya Pradesh located in Central India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 95 hearing impaired and 48 visually impaired children of age between 7 and 17 years were recruited from special care institutions (one institution of hearing impaired and two institutions of visually impaired) in Bhopal city. Information related to different study variables was obtained from both groups. Oral hygiene index simplified (OHI[S]), decayed,extracted, filled teeth (deft and DECAYED, MISSING, FILLED TETTH (DMFT)) indices were used to record the oral hygiene status and dental caries experience. RESULTS: Mean OHI(S) score for hearing impaired was 1.15 ± 0.72 while it was 1.51 ± 0.93 for visually impaired children (P < 0.05). Mean DMFT score was 1.4 ± 1.95 and 0.94 ± 1.45 among hearing impaired and visually impaired respectively. The hearing impaired had a mean deft score of 0.47 ± 1.01 and in visually impaired it was 0.19 ± 0.79 and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Oral hygiene status of hearing impaired children was better than visually impaired and the difference was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between both groups with respect to DMFT. The hearing impaired children had significantly higher deft than visually impaired.