Prevalence of Dental Caries, Oral Hygiene Status and Treatment Needs in Physically Handicapped Children Attending Various Special Schools of Davangere District

To assess and compare the prevalence of dental caries, oral hygiene status and treatment needs among different groups of physically handicapped children attending various special schools in Davangere district.

A total of 719 physically handicapped children attending various special schools in Davangere district were included in the study. A survey proforma was prepared using WHO oral health assessment form (1997). Dental caries (dentition status and treatment need index, WHO 1997), oral hygiene status (oral hygiene index simplified, Greene and vermilion 1964) and treatment need was recorded. For statistical analysis, chi- square test and ANOVA test were used.

Out of 719 handicapped children, 49.4% (355) had dental caries with mean DMFT being 0.87 (S.D ±1.38) and mean dmft 0.33 (S.D ± 0.99). The prevalence of dental caries was high among blind group (72%), followed by orthopaedic group (48.6%), compound group (54.5%) and deaf and dumb group (41.2%), the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The oral hygiene status was good in 43.2%, fair in 47.9% and poor in 8.9% and the difference among handicap groups was significant (P<0.1). The prevalence of caries with respect to oral hygiene status among the groups was not statistically significant. Overall, 286 (39.8%) children in permanent and 350 (48.7%) children in deciduous dentition required treatment.

The dental profession should be aware of the responsibilities in improving the dental health of handicapped children. There is a strong need for improved education on chemical plaque control and in-service training programmes on oral hygiene to the concerned groups. Both comprehensive and incremental dental care is recommended for these subjects.