Assessment of Oral Hygiene and Oral Health Status of 4-12 Year Old Children with Hearing Impairment

Special mental and physical impairments including hearing impairment have important effects on oral health. The aim of this study was to assess the oral health and hygiene status of 4-12 year old hearing impaired children in the city of Isfahan.
In this cross-sectional study, all of the hearing impaired 4-12 year old children in the city of Isfahan were examined. Information about oral health hygiene, dental caries status, gingival index (GI), oral hygiene index-simplified (OHI-s) and trauma status were recorded in data report forms. Descriptive and analytical statistics including ANOVA, t-test, chi square and Mann-Whitney tests were used. Linear regression analysis was also conducted.
A total of 137 children aged 4-12 year (55.5% boys and 44.5% girls) were examined. The dmft and the total DMFT means were 3.4±4.1 and 3.8±4.4, respectively. There was a significant difference between the two age groups regarding dmft (P-value=0.001). Oral hygiene status was good in 57.7% of the cases regarding OHI-S. Only 10%of children had normal gingival hygiene according to GI index with significant difference between the two age groups (P=0.012). Among the children, 53.3% reported to use toothbrush every day. Regression analysis revealed that the age of children (B-coefficient= -0.5, P=0.04), their level of impairment (B-coefficient=3.4, P Dental caries status in children in our study was above the state and province norms in the age group of 4-12 years. A low percent of children had good gingival health while their oral hygiene behavior was mostly inadequate. Therefore, a need to improve oral hygiene of such children and more attention towards preventive and therapeutical measures are anticipated.