Effectiveness of visual instruction skit and sign language on oral health status among 5-18-year-old hearing-impaired children in South India: A cluster randomized clinical trial

• Published in: Journal of the Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 316 - 321
• Main Authors: Kondepudi, Vaishnavi, Kumar, R. V. S. Krishna, Srinivasulu, Gomasani, Prasanth, Punamalli Symon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 01.10.2024; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Edition: 2
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; children with hearing impairment; Clinical trials; Dental Caries; DMF Index; Female; Gingival index; Health aspects; Health education; Health Education, Dental - methods; Hearing; Hearing disorders in children; Humans; Hygiene; India; Language; Male; Oral health; Oral Health - education; Oral hygiene; Oral Hygiene - education; Original Article: Clinical Research; Periodontal Index; Persons with Hearing Disabilities; Sign Language; Statistical analysis; Study and teaching; Teeth; Young adults; India; health education; sign language; Children with hearing impairment
• ISSN: 0970-4388; 1998-3905
• DOI: 10.4103/jisppd.jisppd_222_24

ABSTRACT Background: Literature on the effectiveness of theory-based oral health education on the oral hygiene status of hearing-impaired children is limited. Aim: To determine the effectiveness of a school oral health education intervention on oral hygiene status and oral health-related knowledge among 5-18-year-old children in Andhra Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: A cluster randomized clinical trial was conducted among all institutionalized hearing-impaired children and young adults residing in various special care schools in Nellore district. Plaque Control record, gingival index (GI), and Decayed Missed Filled Teeth/ decayed extracted filled teeth and Decayed Missed Filled surfaces/ decayed extracted filled surfaces (DMFT/deft, and DMFS/defs) index were recorded; participants were selected and were randomly allocated to two groups using lottery method with 50 subjects in each group, Group I: sign language and Group II: video skit. Results: In all the age groups, preintervention DMFT and postintervention GI, DMFT, and DMFS were statistically significant in the sign language group and in the video skit group. Postintervention DMFS shows a significant difference. Conclusion: When compared with video instruction skit, sign language shows significant improvement in the oral hygiene status of CHI.