Oral health status of handicapped children attending special schools in Bangalore city

Aims and objectives: The likelihood of a child surviving to adulthood today bears little comparison with the child of the 1880s; whilst the killing and crippling diseases of the 19 th century have virtually been eradicated, their place today has been taken by accidents, cancer, inherited diseases and congenital malformations as the major causes of morbidity in childhood. The present study was conducted to assess the oral health status of handicapped children attending special schools and to compare the data with control group children in Bangalore City. Methods: The study group comprised of 502 handicapped children attending special schools and 522 control group in the age group of 5-14 years. The OHI-S, DMFT/DMFS, dmft/dmfs and CPITN were recorded to obtain the data regarding oral hygiene, dental caries, and periodontal health status. The Z test and Chi square test were used to test the significance. Results: Mean number of dmft/dmfs was higher in controls than the study group and bleeding sextants were more in the study group. Regarding oral hygiene, 50% of both the groups had fair oral hygiene status.