Salivary parameters, dental caries experience and treatment needs of hearing-impaired children in a special school for deaf in Kelantan, Malaysia
- Author:
Normastura Abd. Rahman
;
Azizah Yusoff
;
Mohd Khairi Md Daud
;
Fatin Noor Kamaruzaman
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
dental caries;
health services need;
hearing loss;
saliva
- MeSH:
Dental caries
- From:Archives of Orofacial Sciences
2015;10(1):17-23
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Dental caries is the main oral health problem in hearing-impaired (HI) children and remains the most
neglected need. The present study aimed to determine caries prevalence and treatment needs in HI children and
the association with salivary parameters. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 63 HI children aged between
7-14 years who attended a special school for the deaf. Clinical oral examination was done and salivary
parameters (resting flow rate and resting pH) were measured. Caries experience was charted using the index of
decay-filled teeth (dft) and Decay-Missing-Filled Teeth (DMFT) for primary and permanent dentition respectively.
Data were analysed using SPSS version 12.0. The mean age was 11.5 (SD 2.39) years and 53.8% were female.
Dental caries prevalence was 88.0% (95% Cl: 73.0, 100.0) in primary dentition and 85.0% (95% Cl: 73.0, 96.0) in
permanent dentition. The mean dft was 6.1 (SD 4.14) and the mean DMFT was 4.9 (SD 3.28). The mean resting
flow rate was 0.14 (SD 0.08) ml/min while mean pH was 6.8 (SD 0.79). Both pit and fissure sealants and
restorations were the highest (83.1%) treatment needs. Only 3.1% of the children did not require any treatment.
There were no significant association between both salivary flow rate and salivary pH with caries experience in
the primary (p=0.342, p=0.610 respectively) and permanent (p= 0.99, p=0.70 respectively) teeth. In conclusion,
children with HI have high caries prevalence and unmet need for dental treatments. Salivary pH and resting flow
rate of the children were not associated with their caries experience.
- Full text:P020150708474926260276.pdf
