ORAL HEALTH INEQUALITY OF HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN IN IRAN

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the oral hygiene, dental caries and trauma status of 4-12 years old hearing impaired children in Iran.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all of the hearing impaired 4-6 years old children studying in the preschools under the supervision of the Welfare Organization and 6-12 years old children in schools under the supervision of the Education Organization were recruited. Informed consent was obtained from parents and the project got approval of the ethics committee in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Children were clinically examined by one examiner in their preschools and schools and Information about oral hygiene, dental caries and gingival status were recorded using gingival index (GI), oral hygiene index-simplified (OHI-s) and DMFT. Trauma status was also recorded in data reported forms. Descriptive and analytical statistics including, T-test (for comparing DMFT by gender and the two age groups), Chi squared (for comparing the frequency of trauma between the two age groups) and Mann-Whitney (for comparing the GI and OHI-s in two age groups) were used. Linear regression analysis was also used to determine the DMFT predictive factors and their effect size.

Results: 137 children including 43 (31.4%) aged 4-6 years, 94(68.6%) 6-12 years including were examined. The means of dmft and the total DMFT were 3.4 ±4.1 and 3.8 ±4.4, respectively. 78(57.5%) had good oral hygiene; OHI-S. Only 15(10.9%) of children had normal gingiva using the GI index with a significant difference between the two age groups (p=0.012). 40(29.2%) of all children had a history of head and neck trauma including 22(51.2%) in age group of 4-6 and 18(19.1%) in age group of 6-12 years (p<0.001). Regression model revealed that the age of children (B-coefficient= -0.5, p=0.04), their level of impairment (complete hearing loss/moderate hearing loss, B-coefficient= 3.4, p<0.001) and the OHI-S (B-coefficient=1.2, p=0.03) were significantly predictors of DMFT.

Conclusions: Dental caries status of the children in our study was above the state and province means in the age group of 4-12 years and also their gingival health status was poor. The oral health status and behaviors were improved in older children. Improvement of oral health status of this special group children should be considered more by policy makers. Methods of funding: We express our gratitude to the chancellery of research in dental schoolof Isfahan university of medical sciences and administrative support and also department of education and training of province for administrative cooperation