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.

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.