Oral Health Survey of 6-14-Year-Old Children with Disabilities Attending Special Schools Yemen

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the oral health status and treatment needs of children with disabilities attending special schools in Sana’a, Yemen. Study design: This cross-sectional study involved 401 children with different disabilities aged between 6 and 14 years. Dental caries was evaluated using DMFT/dmft indices in accordance with WHO criteria. The plaque index (PI) and the gingival index (GI) were used to assess oral hygiene and gingival health, respectively. Results : The mean dmft and DMFT scores of the total population were 4.27 and 1.90 respectively, with no significant differences across gender (p>0.05). According to the type of disability, the physically disabled had the highest mean dmft of 4.68 (SD 3.30) and subjects with compound disabilities had the highest mean DMFT of 2.85 (SD 1.98). Among the disability groups, the blind had the highest PI and GI scores, and the deaf had the lowest. Majority of the children were on need for specific type of dental treatment. Conclusion: This study suggests that children with disabilities have a high prevalence of dental caries and poor oral hygiene.

oral health, treatment needs, disabled children

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