Effect of oral health education programme on oral health awareness and plaque maturity status among hearing-impaired children

Many studies have indicated that hearing-impaired (HI) children have poor oral hygiene mainly contributed by difficulties in communication. The objectives of the study were to assess the difficulties experienced by HI children during dental visit and the effectiveness of "Oral Health Care for the Hearing-Impaired" (OCHI) programme in improving the oral health knowledge and practice, and reducing the dental plaque maturity scores among HI children. A community intervention study was conducted and training of trainers (TOT) was done to train the teachers in delivering oral health education (OHE) and practices by using developed booklet and video. The difficulties faced by the HI children during dental visit, and the oral health knowledge and practice (OHKP) were assessed by face-to-face interview with HI children whilst the dental plaque maturity was assessed using GC Tri Plaque ID Gel T (TPID) during pre-intervention, post-intervention-1 and postintervention- 2. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22. Among the teachers, there was an increase in the mean (SD) total knowledge and attitude score during post-TOT compared to pre-TOT, 46.1 (2.44) and 43.7 (4.01); (p<0.001) and 16.7 (2.11) and 14.3 (2.38); (p<0.001) respectively. For the oral health practice, there were positive changes in practice among teachers during post-TOT compared to pre-TOT. There were also significant changes in mean knowledge scores of HI children with time (p=0.003) and the plaque maturity scores were significantly reduced during post-intervention-1 and post-intervention-2. Thus, the OCHI programme was effective in improving oral hygiene among HI children. However, the inconsistent pattern was observed for their oral health practices that need further research.