Assessment of oral health-related quality of life in 9-15 year old children with visual impairment in Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Background: To assess the prevalence of dental diseases among 9–15‑year‑old visually impairedchildren and find out its impact on their daily activities using the Child‑Oral Impact on DailyPerformance (C‑OIDP) questionnaire in districts of Uttarakhand, India.Materials and Methods: A total of 423 visually impaired institutionalized children between theage group of 9–15 years were included in the study. Stratified random sampling technique wasused to obtain the study population. Dental caries was recorded using dmft for primary dentitionand DMFT for permanent dentition, traumatic dental injuries were assessed using traumatic dentalinjury index, and dentofacial anomalies were recorded using Angle’s classification of malocclusion.The Hindi braille version of C‑OIDP questionnaire was used to gather information regarding oralhealth‑related quality of life (OHRQoL).Results: There was a high dental caries prevalence of 57.7% in visually impaired children. Theprevalence of traumatic dental injuries was 50.6%. Crowding (61.5%) was the most commonlyseen dentofacial anomaly and the most commonly perceived oral health problem was toothache.There was less favorable OHRQoL in males as compared to females.Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of dental diseases in this group and higher C‑OIDPscores suggestive of unfavorable OHRQoL.

Key Words: Questionnaire, dentofacial deformities, dental caries, trauma, visually impaired