Objective: To evaluate and compare the Oral hygiene status, plaque accumulation, gingival health, dental caries status and prevalence of traumatic injuries among visually impaired and normal school children. Basic research design: Cross-sectional and comparative study with oral examination. Participants: 1272, with an age group of 6-16 year (631 from either school) in Delhi, India. Results: The mean OHI score among visually impaired was (2.61 ± 0.60) as compared to normal children (2.23 ± 0.51). Mean Plaque index and GI score was 1.81 and 1.43 respectively for visually impaired whereas 1.40 and 1.08 for normal children respectively. The mean DMFT and dmft Score was 2.10 and 0.92±1.94 for visually impaired and 0.99 and0.19±0.77 respectively. The caries prevalence among the visually impaired children was 57.84% and among the normal children was 25.67%. The prevalence rate of traumatic injuries was quite high among visually impaired (38.21%) as compared to normal children (20.07%) and statistically significant values were also found in all the parameters between the two groups. Conclusions: Overall oral hygiene status was poor among blind children when compared with the normal children. Visually Impaire Children experienced more dental caries and traumatic injuries.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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