Association of Self-Concept with Oral Health Status among Children Residing in Orphanages in Bengaluru

Abstract

BACKGROUND Self-concept is a fundamental domain of a person’s psychological function. Relation with family members and peers may influence self-concept which poses children in orphanages at risk. In order to implement and evaluate oral health interventions, we need to consider the functional and psychosocial dimensions of oral health. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between self-concept and oral health status among 12 - 17 year olds residing in orphanages in Bengaluru. METHODS The study was carried out among children living in orphanages. A cluster sampling method was used to select 269 participants from 9 orphanages in Bengaluru. The self-concept of the study participants was assessed using R. K. Saraswat’s selfconcept questionnaire. Oral health status was recorded using world health organization (WHO) oral health assessment form 2013. RESULTS Majority of the children in orphanages had an above average (45 %) and average selfconcept (39 %). Dental caries was present in 91.1 %, missing teeth in 19.7 %, filled teeth in 20.4 %, dental trauma in 17.9, gingival bleeding in 14.5 %, erosion in 5.9 % and oral mucosal lesions in 10.03 % of study participants. CONCLUSIONS Orphan children have an above average self-concept but are at an increased risk for oral diseases. KEY WORDS Self-Concept, Dental Caries, Gingivitis, Trauma, Orphanage

Caries in orphan children: prevalence and determinants—a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…When a dissertation and the article derived from it were both available, they were assessed as one record where missing data in one document was retrieved from the other [ 75 , 79 ].…”

“…Judging individual studies, six out of the included 21 studies were assessed to have low risk of bias in all domains [ 10 , 32 , 45 , 71 , 74 , 75 ].…”

“…Thirteen of the included studies compared the results of their male and female participants [ 10 , 32 , 40 , 45 , 47 , 69 , 70 , 72 – 74 , 76 , 77 , 79 ]. However, the studies showed heterogeneous results; where some reported higher caries levels in males [ 10 , 40 ], contrasted by others favoring females [ 74 , 75 ], and some detected no significant difference [ 32 , 45 , 69 , 70 , 72 , 73 , 76 , 77 ].…”

“…It is subdivided into self-satisfaction about multiple domains: physical, social, temperamental, educational, moral, and intellectual. A strong negative correlation was reported between caries experience at one side and physical, social, temperamental, moral and intellectual dimension of self-concept of institutionalized orphans (p=0.0001) [ 75 ]. It is suggested that low levels of self-concept may have a psychological impact that would provoke oral problems through hygiene neglect.…”

“…The method of reporting caries varied in the included studies between caries percentage and DMF. Therefore, only the results of the 5 studies that reported the caries prevalence (percentage) were possible to include in meta-analysis to conclude the effect of gender as a risk factor [ 69 , 70 , 72 , 75 , 77 ].…”