Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year
: 2019  |  Volume : 17  |  Issue : 3  |  Page : 201--205

Assessment of oral health status of children living in orphanages of Hassan City, India


G Kavayashree, KL Girish Babu 
 Department of Dentistry, Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, Hassan, Karnataka, India

Correspondence Address:
Dr. K L Girish Babu
Professor and Head, Department of Dentistry, Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, Hassan - 573 201, Karnataka
India

Abstract

Introduction: The children residing in orphanages suffer from poor oral health. Early identification of oral diseases is at most necessary in these high-risk group children so that the prevention and controlling of the diseases can be done at the earliest. Aim: This study aims to assess the oral health status of children residing in orphanages of Hassan city, India. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, children without parents, aged 6–14 years were selected from government-run orphanages. Children willing to participate were included. Each child was examined by a single investigator. Each child was examined on an upright chair in an adequate natural light using. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using Student's t-test and SPSS software 19.0. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The mean oral hygiene score among males was 1.32 ± 0.69 and among females was 0.89 ± 0.80 ( P = 0.006). On comparison of mean gingival index score between males and females, it was not statistically significant ( P = 0.160). The prevalence of dental caries in primary and permanent dentition was 26.21% and 23.07%, respectively. The prevalence of fractured tooth was found to be 8.57%. Conclusions: The oral hygiene status and gingival health status of the orphan children were good. The prevalence of dental caries and dental trauma was low among them.



How to cite this article:
Kavayashree G, Girish Babu K L. Assessment of oral health status of children living in orphanages of Hassan City, India.J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent 2019;17:201-205


How to cite this URL:
Kavayashree G, Girish Babu K L. Assessment of oral health status of children living in orphanages of Hassan City, India. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent [serial online] 2019 [cited 2024 Mar 28 ];17:201-205
Available from: https://journals.lww.com/aphd/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?2019/17/3/201/266761


Full Text



 Introduction



Many children are living in orphanages due to parental neglect, absence, substance abuse, and abandonment. These children are at risk for developing abnormal psychosocial development.[1] These children find themselves at higher risk of discrimination, inadequate care, and exploitation due to the absence of parental care. The children living in orphanage do not receive adequate preventive health care.[2] Many significant problems go undetected, or if diagnosed, they are not evaluated and treated.[3] The children residing in orphanages suffer from poor oral health as the health care of them is often neglected. This is because the orphanage homes can barely meet the needs of the children due to poor funding and low caretaker to child ratio.[1] Studies have observed a higher prevalence of dental caries, gingivitis, and dental trauma in these children.[4],[5],[6],[7],[8] Early identification of oral diseases is at most necessary in these high-risk group children so that the prevention and controlling of the diseases can be done at the earliest.

Although the exact number of orphans is unknown, the gravity of the situation can be assessed by the fact that there are around 143.4 million orphans worldwide, among whom, nearly 87.6 million are in Asia alone.[9] The National Family Health Survey-3 (2005–06) reported that about 4% of Indian population is orphans which constitute about 20 million children.[10] Although they contribute to 2% of worlds' population, there is a paucity of literature regarding their oral health status, particularly in Southern India. Hence, the aim of the present study was to assess the oral health status of children residing in orphanages of Hassan city, India. The objective of the study was to assess the status of oral hygiene, dental caries, gingival health, oral mucosa, and dental trauma in these children.

 Materials and Methods



The present descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted over 6 months during January–June 2017. Prior to the commencement of the study, ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee, Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, India. (IEC/HIMS/030/2016 Dated 14.09.2016) The lists of orphanages were obtained from the Department of Women and Children welfare, Hassan District. Hassan district has eight taluks. There are two orphanages in Hassan District situated in Hassan city. The children aged 6 years and above are admitted to these orphanages, and they are sheltered here up to their 18 years. The written permission was obtained from the concerned government authorities and the head of the orphanages. The caretakers of orphanages offered written proxy consent for the children selected from orphanages. Before clinical examination, children were assured that the information collected from them would be kept confidential and will be reported in aggregate form. A written assent was obtained from each study participant prior to their clinical oral examination. Based on the reports of previous studies conducted at different cities of India,[1],[4],[5] the sample size was calculated.

n = N/(1 + Ne2), where n is the sample size, N is the population size and e is the margin of error

[INLINE:1]

The estimated sample size was 86 which was rounded off to 100.

Training and calibration for oral examination and diagnosis of the selected oral diseases were carried out in the Department of Dentistry, Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, India. Oral health status was recorded by a dental surgeon sitting beside the examiner so that the codes given by the examiner could be easily heard. Ten percent of children were examined twice for intra-examiner reliability. The kappa value for intra-examiner agreement was 0.88.

Children without parents, aged 6–14 years, were selected. Inclusion criteria include (1) normal, healthy, and cooperative children; (2) children residing in orphanages from 6 years of their age; and (3) children with all the indexed teeth for assessing oral hygiene status. Exclusion criteria include (1) children who are not willing to participate; (2) children with missing indexed teeth; (3) medically compromised children; (4) children with physical disability; and (5) children with mental disability.

Written consent was taken from the management of orphanage homes. All children were informed about the study purpose and method. Children willing to participate were included. Each child was examined by a single investigator. Prior to the examination, the child was asked to rinse the mouth thoroughly. The teeth were cleaned and dried with cotton pellet to eliminate any food debris on teeth. Each child was examined on an upright chair in an adequate natural light using sterilized mouth mirror and probe. Oral hygiene status was assessed using oral hygiene index (OHI) given by Greene and Vermillion.[11] Gingival status was assessed using gingival index by Loe and Silness.[12] The status of oral mucosa, dental carries, and dental trauma was assessed according to the WHO criteria (2013).[13] The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using Student's t-test and Chi-square test. SPSS software 19.0 (IBM Corp., Released 2010. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 19.0. Armonk, NY, USA: IBM Corp.,) were used for the analysis of the data.

 Results



A total of 62 males and 38 females participated in this study. The mean oral hygiene score among males was 1.32 ± 0.69 and among females was 0.89 ± 0.80. The difference was statistically significant. On comparison of mean gingival index score between male and females, it was not statistically significant ( P = 0.160). The mean deft score was 0.69 ± 1.25. The decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) score of males was 0.41 ± 0.86 and females was 0.68 ± 1.49 and the difference was statistically significant [Table 1]. Frequency table for OHI-simplified showed 66% of children with good and 44% of children with fair oral hygiene [Table 2]. Frequency table of gingival health status showed that 45%, 39%, and 16% of children had normal, mild, and moderate gingival score, respectively [Table 3]. The prevalence of dental caries in primary dentition among males was 27.69%; among females, it was 23.68%; and the overall prevalence was found to be 26.21%. In permanent dentition, the prevalence of dental caries among males was 23.07%; among females, it was 44.73%; and the overall prevalence was 30.47% [Table 4]. The prevalence of fractured tooth among males was 10.76%; among females, it was 5.26%; and the overall prevalence was found to be 8.57% [Table 5].{Table 1}{Table 2}{Table 3}{Table 4}{Table 5}

 Discussion



The children living with their family are provided with physical security, food and shelter, and psychological security. However, orphan children are not so fortunate. The orphans are ones who have lost one or both the parents and are socially and economically deprived.[14] Orphan children are usually sympathized but hidden away in the community.[15] The complete unfolding of potentialities of these children is hampered by certain elements in their social environment such as parental inadequacy, environmental deprivation, and emotional disturbances.[16] Young children in orphanage do not receive adequate preventive health care and thus many significant problems go undetected, or, if diagnosed, are not evaluated and treated. Thus, many orphan children suffer from chronic ill health, developmental, and psychiatric disorders.

Oral health is an integral part of general health and quality of life, so its neglect will give rise to negative health consequences and unpleasant social life of the individuals. Neglect of oral health care among this group of children leads to increased risk of developing oral diseases. Many researchers have reported a compromised oral health in children and adolescents suffering from sociopathies.[3,5,7,8,17] This has been attributed to overcrowding, lack of adequate staff, poor oral hygiene, improper dietary habits, inadequacies in the orphanage system, and inadequacies in the health-care system.[3],[18] Studies reporting the oral health status of orphan children are very scarce,[4],[15] particularly in Southern India. Hence, the present study was taken up to assess the oral health status of children residing in orphanages of Hassan city, India.

Oral hygiene status is often determined by the amount of deposits on the surfaces of teeth. The oral hygiene status of most of the orphans examined was good. The knowledge of oral health care among the caretakers who encouraged and motivated these children, oral hygiene aids provided by the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and frequent visit of dental health facilities for regular checks would have assisted them to maintain their oral hygiene. Ojahanon et al. reported a similar finding among most of the orphan children in Benin city, Nigeria.[7] However, Al-Jobair et al. observed a worse oral hygiene in Saudi Arabian orphan children.[19] This finding was attributed to ineffective brushing techniques, lack of close supervision, and rendering dental treatment only during an emergency. Most of the children (66%) had a good oral hygiene in the current study. Similarly, in a study, almost 74% of children presented with fair oral hygiene.[7] However, Shanbhog et al. reported only 19.7% of children to have a good oral hygiene score.[6] Other studies reported increasing score with increasing age.[20],[21] The poor oral hygiene in them may be due to increased prevalence of gingivitis associated with teeth eruption and hormonal changes at puberty.[7] In the present study, females had better oral hygiene than males which may be due to the growing awareness about esthetics among females than males.

Poor oral hygiene has been implicated in the etiology and progression of gingival and periodontal diseases. In the present study, orphan children did not show any significant gingival bleeding. This finding is in accordance to Sushanth et al., who observed a significantly lower gingival index score among orphans.[15] Good oral hygiene among them and healthy oral hygiene habits would have contributed for better gingival health. Contrary to our observation, Thetakala et al.,[4] Al-Jobair et al.,[19] and Khedekar et al.,[8] reported a significantly higher prevalence of gingival bleeding among orphans and it was relatively higher among males compared to females. This finding was attributed to nonavailability of oral hygiene aids (toothbrush and toothpaste), improper brushing techniques, and lack of close supervision of their oral hygiene practices.

Dental caries is caused due to the interaction between genetic and environmental factors, in which biological, social, behavioral, and psychological components are expressed in a highly complex and interactive manner.[22] According to the National Oral Health Survey (2002–2003), the mean DMFT/deft is 1.8 in the 12 years of age groups in India.[23] In the present study, the mean dental caries in primary and permanent dentition was low. In accordance with this, Thetakala et al.[4] and Pratap et al.[24] also reported a low dental caries scores among orphan children. This low caries experience may be due to following: strict food selection by government authority to make sure that these children are given proper healthy, nutritious, and fibrous food with low sugar content; absence of frequent snacking of carbohydrate-rich sticky foods; fixed time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and giving sweets made of jaggery only during lunch. Along with these, the oral health services provided by some of the philanthropic institutions, dental colleges and NGOs by providing toothbrush and fluoridated toothpaste and compulsorily making them to brush their teeth twice daily would have contributed for the lower caries experience in these children.

The prevalence of dental caries in primary dentition was 26% with mean DMFT of 0.69. Pratap et al.[24] and Khare et al.[25] observed a prevalence of 40.5% and 49.6%, respectively, which are very much higher than the present study. Orphans in Yemen had a mean DMFT of 2.28.[26] The prevalence of dental caries in permanent dentition was 30%. However, other studies have reported a higher mean caries experience in permanent dentition.[4],20,[27],[28],[29] A very high caries prevalence of 84.7% and 78% was reported by Al-Maweri et al.,[26] and Seow et al.,[30] respectively. The authors related the high prevalence of dental caries to the poor oral hygiene status of children, underlying medical conditions, particularly psychological problems and the use of medications. Other causes were negligence toward oral health, nonavailability of health-care facilities, overcrowded and underfunded orphanages, lack of supervision and reinforcement, and high cost of dental health care. The mean DMFT score observed was 0.41. Orphan children of other parts of India had a mean DMFT score ranging from 0.96 to 3.56[6],[24],[31],[32] However, Romanian orphan children had a mean DMFT/DMFT of zero.[33]

Males had higher caries experience in primary dentition, whereas females had higher caries experience in permanent teeth. The early eruption of teeth followed by prolonged exposure to the deleterious oral environment would have resulted in higher caries experience in permanent dentition among females.[34] This finding is in accordance with the results of other researchers' reporting from various parts of India.[1],[34],[35] Contradictory to our findings, many authors observed a higher caries experience among males.[4],[26],[27],[36] The authors stated that the females had lower caries experience as they were more conscious about maintaining esthetics, appearance, cleanliness, and hygiene. However, Sudha et al. and Lagana et al. found no statistically significant difference in caries prevalence between genders.[37],[38]

Al-Maweri et al. reported nine types of oral lesions in their study.[26] The most common being fissured tongue, recurrent herpes labialis, traumatic ulcers, and geographic tongue. However, in the present study, no such lesion was observed as the children had a good oral hygiene and proper psychological support and care. Other reasons could be recording of oral mucosal status only at the time of examination. The validity of self-reports given by children regarding previous oral lesions is questionable, and hence, it was not considered in this study.

Around 9% of children experienced the incidence of dental trauma, and male children had a higher traumatic teeth experience than females. This finding is in accordance with the observation made by Khare et al.[25] and Al-Maweri et al.[26] The higher prevalence of traumatic teeth among orphans may be due to overcrowding in the orphanage and the psychological stress of orphans. The psychological stress may increase the violence between children. Male children spend more time in physical activity and fights with each other; this would have resulted in higher traumatic experience among them than females.

The results of the present study showed that orphan children had a fair oral health status. This emphasizes the need of conducting regular dental health programs and creating awareness about preventive oral health measures. Primary caretakers should also be trained by conducting educational programs on “importance of oral health and its maintenance.” Along with these, utilization of resources of the dental colleges, NGOs, and encouragement of public–private partnership will help to improve the oral health of these unfortunate children.

As this was a cross-sectional study, the cause of dental caries cannot be easily determined. Furthermore, we did not include a control group as it would be unethical to create a group who would not receive oral health care. Future longitudinal studies with a control group should be carried out to improve the oral health of these orphan children.

 Conclusions



The oral hygiene status and gingival health status of the orphan children were goodThe prevalence of dental caries and dental trauma was low among them.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

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