New Vision for Improving the Oral Health Education of Visually Impaired Children- A Non Randomized Control Trial

Visually impaired people have poorer oral hygiene when compared to others. Therefore, there is a necessity for individual training by making awareness in oral care and plaque control so as to improve their oral hygiene.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of oral health innovative educative method among visually impaired children of Bengaluru city of India.

A non-randomized control trial was conducted among 40 visually impaired individuals attending special school for blind. The study was conducted for a duration of six months. Baseline data regarding oral health knowledge, attitude and practices was obtained through a questionnaire in Braille and oral plaque assessment was done using Silness and Loe plaque index (1964). Music based brushing technique, cast models and an oral health education talk and booklet in Braille was delivered stressing on importance of oral health. The results of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) before and after health education were analysed using Chi-square test with SPSS version 22.0.

The overall KAP was lower in the preintervention period among the visually impaired children with mean score of 6.98 while after the modified oral health education session, it was increased to a mean score of 14.68 which was statistically significant at p<0.001. There was a significant change in the oral plaque scores with 80% of the children having fair scores in the preintervention period to 30% in the postintervention period.

This oral health education module showed good results which can be implemented to effectively increase the awareness about dental health.