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Effectiveness of different oral health education interventions in visually impaired school children
Author(s) -
Tiwari Barkha S.,
Ankola Anil V.,
Jalihal Sagar,
Patil Pratibha,
Sankeshwari Roopali M.,
Kashyap Bhargava R.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
special care in dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.328
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1754-4505
pISSN - 0275-1879
DOI - 10.1111/scd.12356
Subject(s) - medicine , mcnemar's test , braille , visually impaired , oral hygiene , analysis of variance , oral health , psychological intervention , family medicine , dentistry , optometry , nursing , operating system , statistics , mathematics , computer science
Aim To assess the oral hygiene status, knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) in visually impaired children before and after imparting 3 different modes of oral health education. Methodology and results The present study was a nonrandomized interventional study conducted among visually impaired school children. Ninety visually impaired children aged 12–15 years were selected by lottery method and divided into 3 groups (30 children each). Group 1: ATP (audio, tactile, performance technique), Group 2: Braille, and Group 3: ATP + Braille. Twenty‐item verbal questionnaire was developed to record their knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding oral hygiene before and after imparting oral health education. The oral hygiene status was recorded and compared using plaque and gingival index after 21‐day, 1‐, 6‐, and 9‐month interval. ANOVA, Tukey's post hoc, repeated measures ANOVA, and McNemar test were used. Group 3 showed highest percentage of reduction in plaque (55%) and gingival (52%) scores when compared with Group 1 and Group 2. Conclusion The combination of ATP (audio, tactile, and performance technique) and Braille is an effective way to improve oral hygiene status in visually impaired children. The KAP among these children also improved significantly after imparting oral health education.