Oral Health Status and Dental Treatment Needs among Children with and without Hearing Impairment in Hyderabad, India: A Cross-sectional Study

Aim: The study aimed to assess the oral health status and dental treatment needs of children with hearing impairment (CHI) and children without hearing impairment (HI).Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 110 CHI and 105 children without HI (13-18 years) in Hyderabad, India from February-March 2019. Two special schools (for CHI) and one government (regular) school were selected by purposive sampling. American Dental Association Type-4 dental examination was conducted at respective school premises and modified World Health Organization Oral Health Assessment form, 2013 was used to record the oral health findings. Chi-square test/Fisher's exact test and Z-test were calculated at P < 0.05.Results: Prevalence of dental caries was 69% and 26% among CHI and children without HI, respectively (P < 0.001). Good oral hygiene, as determined by oral hygiene index scores, was merely 31.8% among CHI compared to 82.9% in children without HI. CHI in need of any dental treatment was higher at 89.1% compared to 43.8% of children without HI.Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that CHI has a higher prevalence of dental caries than children without HI in Hyderabad, India. This high prevalence of caries among CHI represents the unmet dental needs and neglect of their oral health care. Oral health promotion is the need of the hour to help nurture good oral health practices among children in general and CHI in particular.