Evaluation of Caries Status in Visually Impaired Children in Chennai

Background and reason dental background is the most common unmet need of visually impaired children. Good oral health is imperative for proper mastication, appearance and speech. Dental caries is the most common chronic oral disease of childhood that interferes with normal nutrition intake, and regular activities because its pain adversely affects the normal food eating. Till now, only a few studies have been conducted to determine the oral health status and dental caries prevalence of disabled children globally. Therefore, the current study was conducted to find out nature and severity of dental problems among visually impaired children so that measures can be taken accordingly. Aim To evaluate the dmft score and caries status in visually challenged children using a questionnaire. Objective to determine attitude of visually- impaired person toward dentistry. Materials and methods Fifty visually-impaired volunteers were screened in Victoria memorial blind school and the oral hygiene status were checked by group of dentist at the same time. The attitudes of participants toward dental health were collected interview questionnaire. Result The data of this study shows that most of visually-impaired participants have poor to fair oral health status (60 %) of them have tooth brushing at least once a day. Family shows to have great impact of these people on their attitude about oral health (62 %) followed by advice from school (18 %). Finally, Majority of the participants tends to rely upon themselves for their oral hygiene measures. Conclusion The findings of this study revealed that visually impaired individuals have poor oral health status so a little extra care by the parent or caretaker regarding oral hygiene can give further improvement and dental health care can be instituted to the parents including brushing techniques at a very early age.