Comparsion of oral hygiene status amongst male orphans and males living with parents of age 6-16 years urban Karachi, Pakistan
Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Epidemiology & Biostatistics (MSc Epidemiology & Biostats)
Department
Community Health Sciences
Abstract
Poor oral hygiene has been proven to increase risks for dental caries, periodontitis and various systemic non communicable diseases. Limited and inconsistent information is available in terms of comparison of oral hygiene of orphans with that of non-orphans. Our study aims to compare the Oral Hygiene Index Simplified (OHI-s) and Dental caries scores of male orphans with the children living with parents and assess the association of different factors with OHI-s scores. METHODS: We conducted a cross sectional analytical study at two orphanages and two government schools in Karachi, Pakistan. Minimum required sample size was 110, 55 in each group. Altogether 201 participants fulfilled the eligibility criteria, 104 male orphans and 97 male government school children. Interviewer assisted questionnaire was used to collect information about factors like oral hygiene practices, diet, and oral health knowledge followed by an oral checkup using 011I-s index and Decayed (D,d), Missing(M), Filled (F,f) teeth (DMFT AND dft) index for caries. Multiple Linear regression was used to report beta coefficients and P values indicating the strength and direction of association of each factor with OHI-s score. RESULTS: The mean OHI-s score among orphans and school children was 2.26(SD=1.19) & l.77(SD=1.05) respectively (p value < 0.001). Caries prevalence among orphans was 58.6% and 59.7% among school children. (p value 0.86). Age, visits to dentist and consumption of tobacco products were significantly associated with OHI-s scores among orphans & non orphans in the final regression model.CONCLUSION: The estimates of oral hygiene scores and dental caries from our study indicate the need for inclusion of dentist or oral hygienist in schools and orphanages for dental checkup with oral health awareness and promotion programs.
Recommended Citation
Muhammad, A. A. (2018). Comparsion of oral hygiene status amongst male orphans and males living with parents of age 6-16 years urban Karachi, Pakistan (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.