title: Oral health status and treatment needs of hearing impaired children attending a special school in Bhimavaram, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children with hearing impairment (CHI) have special accessibility issues to meet their health care needs. Their oral health status is deprived and has wide ranging treatment needs to attend.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral health status and treatment needs of CHI attending a special school in Bhimavaram Town, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study design was a descriptive cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in November 2012 at SVS special school for deaf, Bhimavaram, India. This study involved 180 CHI of both genders, aged 6-16 years, divided into Group-I (6-8 years), Group-II (9-12 years), and Group-III (13-16 years). Oral health status and treatment needs were recorded using methods and standards recommended by the WHO for Oral Health Surveys, 1997. Dental caries prevalence (decayed, missing, and filled teeth [DMFT/dmft]), gingivitis levels (Lφe, Silness Gingival Index), plaque levels (Silness, Lφe Plaque index), and treatment needs were the parameters recorded and analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Z-test for proportion, one-way analysis of variance, and Chi-square test were used to analyze the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prevalence of dental caries in the sample was found to be 65% with a mean level of caries prevalence (DMFT) of 1.6 ± 1.3 in Group-I, 1.9 ± 1.2 in Group-II, and 2.2 ± 1.2 in Group-III. About 91.7% of the total children examined needs treatment. The mean plaque and gingivitis scores of the sample were 1.70 ± 0.61 and 1.59 ± 0.58, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings imply the overwhelming situation of CHI in oral health perspective. Hence, prevention-based educational and motivational programs should be targeted to this vital group to achieve adequate oral hygiene levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Vishnu Dental College, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sandeep
authors.forename: Manikya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vinay
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chandrasekhar
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jyostna
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003638:Deafness; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009909:Oral Health; D015995:Prevalence