No abstract

Introduction Contemporary methods of teaching oral hygiene for the removal of dental plaque are not beneficial for visually impaired children, who depend on tactile sensations and hearing for learning. The present study was conducted to educate and motivate visually impaired children to maintain their oral health using specially designed methods that are easy for these children to understand. Additionally, the study evaluated the effectiveness of these methods over a 6‐month period. Methodology The investigation was done on 148 visually impaired children who were residents of two institutes for the visually impaired. The efficacy of a specially designed oral health education programme and two different motivational techniques utilising tactile (Group I: braille + plastic models) or auditory sensations (Group II: audio story + JAWS®, i.e. Job Access With Speech) was evaluated over 6 months based on the children's plaque and gingival scores. Results Significant improvement in mean plaque and gingival scores was evident in both the groups at the 6‐month evaluation, validating the effectiveness of both the programmes. In Group I, the mean plaque score decreased from 1.34 ± 0.29 at baseline to 1.09 ± 0.26 at 3 months, with a further decrease to 1.04 ± 0.31 at 6 months post‐implementation (P < 0.01). The mean plaque score in Group II decreased from 1.24 ± 0.47 at baseline to 1.15 ± 0.15 at 3 months (P = 0.12), and further to 1.10 ± 0.17 at 6 months (P < 0.01) post‐implementation of the educational programme. At baseline, 87.8% of the children in Group I had moderate gingivitis, whereas 52.7% of the children in Group II belonged to the mild category. At the end of 6 months, 52.7% of the children in Group I were in the mild category, and 62.2% children in Group II were in the moderate category. Conclusion Tactile and auditory measures were found to be effective in educating and motivating visually impaired children regarding maintenance of oral hygiene.

Extensive carious breakdown of primary anterior teeth to the cervical level and their loss in very young children invariably leads to lack of confidence and self-esteem and may cause psychological problems. The present paper deals with the management of three such cases by means of biological restorations, anterior fixed space maintainer and over-dentures.

With concomitant involvement of incisors, more severe presentation of MIH was seen. Also, with increase in number of affected surfaces a parallel increase in severity as well as extent of lesions was observed.

The prevalence of dental caries in 6, 9, 12 and 15-year-old school children of Chandigarh, selected on a randomized basis was evaluated using Moller's criteria (1966) and correlated with the various risk factors. The mean deft was found to be 4.0 +/- 3.6 in 6 year old and 4.61 +/- 3.14 in 9 year old, whereas the mean DMFT in 12 and 15 year old was found to be 3.03 +/- 2.52 and 3.82 +/- 2.85 respectively. The high prevalence of dental caries in these children was attributed to the lack of use of fluoride toothpaste (80% children), lack of knowledge about etiology of dental caries (98%) and frequency of sugar exposures up to more than five times per day (30%).