title: Effectiveness of supervised oral health maintenance in hearing impaired and mute children- A parallel randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Individuals with special needs may have great limitations in oral hygiene performance due to their potential motor, sensory, and intellectual disabilities. Thus, oral health care utilization is low among the disabled people. Hearing disorders affect the general behavior and impair the level of social functioning.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was conducted to assess the dental health outcomes following supervised tooth brushing among institutionalized hearing impaired and mute children in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study followed a single-blind, parallel, and randomized controlled design. A total of 315 students were divided into three groups of 105 children each. Group A included resident students, who underwent supervised tooth brushing under the supervision of their parents. The non-resident students were further divided into two groups: Group B and Group C. Group B children were under the supervision of a caregiver and Group C children were under the supervision of both investigator and caregiver.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was an average reduction in plaque score during the subsequent second follow-up conducted 3 weeks after the start of the study and in the final follow-up conducted at 6 weeks. There was also a marked reduction in the gingival index scores in all the three groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The program of teacher and parent supervised toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste can be safely targeted to socially deprived communities and can enable a significant reduction in plaque and gingival scores. Thus, an important principle of oral health education is the active involvement of parents and caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Government Dental College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pareek
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Jaipur Dental College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Anup
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagaraj
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Government Dental College, Shireen Bagh, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Asif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yousuf
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Jaipur Dental College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Shravani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ganta
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, ESIC Dental College and Hospital, Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Mansi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Atri
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, The Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Kushpal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Singh
keywords: Disability; health education; hearing impaired; oral health