Title

Comparative evaluation of dental caries experience among 12-15 year old school children with and without hearing and speech impairment at Belagavi city, India

Authors

Supriya S Vyavahare^1,*, Roopali M Sankeshwari², Anil V Ankola², Saudamini More³, Shefalika Priyam⁴ & Mehul A. Shah⁵

Affiliation

¹Department of Public Health Dentistry, Yogita Dental College and Hospital, Khed, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, India; ²Department of Public Health Dentistry, KLE Vishwanath Katti Institute of Dental Sciences, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research (KLE University), Belagavi, India; ³Department of Public Health Dentistry, Bharati Vidyapeeth Dental College & Hospital, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; ⁴Medical Affairs, WNS Global Services, Gurgaon, Haryana, India; ⁵Department of Public Health Dentistry, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Dental College and Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Supriya S Vyavahare - E - mail: supriyavyavahare6@gmail.com
Roopali M Sankeshwari - E - mail: drroopali@kledental-bgm.edu.in
Anil V Ankola - E - mail: dranilankola@kledental-bgm.edu.in
Saudamini More - E - mail: drsaudamini90@gmail.com
Shefalika Priyam - E - mail: priyam0908@gmail.com
Mehul A. Shah - E - mail: mehul.shah@bharatividyapeeth.edu

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received December 1, 2024; Revised December 31, 2024; Accepted December 31, 2024, Published December 31, 2024

Abstract

Dental care is often overlooked for children with disabilities, including those with hearing and speech impairments, despite its critical importance. A study comparing the caries profiles of 12- to 15-year-old hearing and speech-impaired schoolchildren with their typical peers using Cariogram involved 140 participants from three schools. Using WHO Dentition Status 2013, clinical examinations revealed significantly higher mean Decayed Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT) scores among children with hearing and speech impairments (6.80 ± 6.002) compared to typical children (1.26 ± 1.719), a difference that was statistically significant (p < 0.001) predicting high caries risk. The findings highlight the caries experience in the impaired group, underscoring the need for targeted preventive and treatment measures. Early caries risk assessment and timely dental care is essential to improve oral health outcomes for this vulnerable population.

Keywords

Caries experience, decayed missing and filled teeth (DMFT), hearing, speech impaired

Citation

Vyavahare et al. Bioinformation 20(12): 2015-2023 (2024)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.