Oral Health Status and Caries Activity in Special Children with Hearing and Speech Impairment

Abstract

Purpose:The oral health status in special children is a major problem due to the lack of manual dexterity and inability to understand the importance of oral health. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to check the oral health status of special children with hearing and speech problems. Materials and methods: A total of 360 hearing and speech impaired children aged 6-16 years attending three special schools in Delhi, India, were included in the present study. Various oral health parameters, viz., dental caries, dental traumatic injuries, gingival health, developmental defects of enamel, malocclusion, caries activity, and unmet treatment needs were recorded. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was found to be 73.7% with a mean Decayed missing filled teeth (DMFT) and decayed missing filled teeth (dmft) of 1.15 ± 1.71 and 1.38 ± 2.27, respectively; the differences between gender were statistically not significant (p value > 0.05). Around 68% of children were in need of preventive care, and 52.5% children needed one surface filling. Around 84% of children had moderate gingivitis. The mean gingival index score was 1.20 ± 0.15; the difference between gender and age groups was statistically not significant (p value > 0.05). Dental traumatic injuries were observed in 2.8% of children. Developmental defects of enamel were observed in 13.8% of children. Angles' class I malocclusion was prevalent in 28.1% of children. High caries activity was observed in 61.4% of children. Conclusion: A high prevalence of dental caries, high caries activity, poor gingival health, and extensive unmet oral health needs were observed in hearing and speech impaired children, thus emphasizing the need of educating parents/caretakers to prevent and treat dental diseases in these special children.

Oral health problems and dental service utilization in children with hearing impairment: a narrative review

“…84% of the students had moderate gingivitis and the mean gingival index score was 1.20±0.15. 7 Assessment of oral health status of 116 hearing impaired children aged 5-16 years old in Saudi Arabia. Dental caries was found in 65% of children and gingival bleeding in 47% of children.…”

Visual learning strategies for oral health promotion and treatment interventions in children and adolescents with hearing impairment – A systematic review

“…1 These patients have been reported with a higher prevalence of dental problems, huge unmet treatment needs, inadequate access to dental treatment, lack of awareness about personal oral hygiene as well as a low oral healthrelated quality of life. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Furthermore, hearing impairment is a hinderance to effective communication between hearing-impaired patients and health care providers during dental and medical treatment. 3,[10][11][12] Successful communication strategies using non-verbal methods such as visual, auditory or tactile can overcome the communication barriers, with visual strategies being the most common 1,3,5,13 which is the assimilation of information from visual formats.…”

“…These patients have been reported with a higher prevalence of dental problems, huge unmet treatment needs, inadequate access to dental treatment, lack of awareness about personal oral hygiene as well as a low oral health‐related quality of life 3–9 . Furthermore, hearing impairment is a hinderance to effective communication between hearing‐impaired patients and health care providers during dental and medical treatment 3,10–12 .…”