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Updated: Jan 16, 2026
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Oral Health Index for Children: A Novel System Introduction Assessing the Oral Hygiene Status of Primary and Mixed
Vilas Takate1, Dimple Padawe1, Gauri V Rathi1
1Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Government Dental College and Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Insights
A new Oral Health Index for Children (OHI-C) shows good reliability for assessing pediatric oral hygiene. This index provides valuable information for dental professionals to guide oral health instructions in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dentistry
- Oral Hygiene Assessment
- Dental Indices
Background:
- The simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S) is a standard for oral hygiene assessment.
- Existing indices lack specificity for children with primary or mixed dentition.
- A novel index is needed for accurate pediatric oral hygiene evaluation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the reliability and validity of the new Oral Health Index for Children (OHI-C).
- To determine if OHI-C can effectively assess oral hygiene in children aged 6-12 years.
- To compare OHI-C with the established OHI-S.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 60 children aged 6-12 years.
- Oral cavity examination and calculation of OHI-S and OHI-C indices.
- Repeat OHI-C examination after a 5-minute interval to assess reproducibility.
Main Results:
- OHI-C demonstrated a significant positive correlation with OHI-S (r=0.536, p<0.05).
- Intraexaminer reproducibility for OHI-C was approximately 75%.
- Interexaminer reproducibility for OHI-C was approximately 59%.
Conclusions:
- The OHI-C exhibits moderate to good intra- and interexaminer reproducibility.
- OHI-C provides valuable data for dental professionals to issue practical oral health instructions for children.
- OHI-C serves as a reliable tool for assessing oral hygiene in pediatric patients with primary or mixed dentition.
Introduction:
The simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S) is regarded as a sensitive and simple method for quantitative assessment of oral hygiene status that enhances decision-making efficiency and reduces examination time. However, no exclusive indices catering to the assessment of oral hygiene in pediatric patients with primary or mixed dentition have been proposed in existing literature. The present research evaluated the reliability and validity of the new oral health index for children (OHI-C).
Materials And Methods:
The present study was conducted on a total of n = 60 children of 6-12 years of age. The oral cavity was evaluated in the first round, followed by the calculation of OHI-S and OHI-C indices for the subjects. About 5 minutes after the first round, a second examination of the oral cavity was performed to record the OHI-C again.
Results:
The OHI-S was significantly correlated with the OHI-C (p < 0.05), and OHI-S showed a positive correlation with OHI-C with r = 0.536. Intra- and interexaminer reproducibility for clinical examination of the OHI-C showed moderate to good agreement, with about 75% intraobserver agreement and 59% interobserver agreement.
Conclusion:
Findings of the present study suggest that the OHI-C has moderate to good intra- and interexaminer reproducibility, and the examination by OHI-C still provides information that will enable the dental professional to determine practicable oral health instructions in children, similar to the corresponding OHI-S in adults.
How To Cite This Article:
Takate VS, Padawe DS, Rathi GV, et al. Oral Health Index for Children: A Novel System Introduction Assessing the Oral Hygiene Status of Primary and Mixed Dentition. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2025;18(5):548-552.
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