ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Rural children are predisposed to variety of dental problems, which may influence their overall health and well-being. Despite relentless efforts and achievements in oral health promotion by authorities, its impact seems limited in rural areas of developing countries. AIM: To generate data on the prevalence of dental caries and gingivitis, among 12-year-old rural children of Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh and factors facilitating or impeding uptake of dental care services. METHODS: A cross-sectional, house-to-house survey was conducted in Kavali revenue division of Nellore district by random selection. A cluster sampling methodology was followed, and a total of 169 adolescents were involved in the study. Dental caries detection was performed according to the World Health Organization dentition status criteria and gingivitis according to modified Community Periodontal Index as gingivitis present or absent. Descriptive statistics were calculated. RESULTS: Overall prevalence of dental caries and gingivitis was 39% and 35%, respectively, with <15% utilization of oral health care services. The main hurdle for this notably low utilization of oral health care services was that dental issues were not fatal or life-threatening. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dental caries and gingivitis was high and poor utilization of oral health services was an importunate finding in this study. Understanding the trends of common oral diseases and hurdles in uptake of oral health care services could provide a basis for further research and improvement in accessibility to oral health care services in rural areas of developing nations.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The occupational environment influences oral health to a greater extent. The unique environment in the steel factory might influence oral health and oral health-related quality of life of its workers, especially those who are exposed to its environment. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To determine oral health status and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life among production line and administration workers of a steel factory and assess their relationship with occupation exposure. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 533 production line and 517 administration workers of the steel factory aged 31-60 years using simple random sampling. The collected data includes information on demographic factors, adverse habits of the study subjects, and oral health-related quality of life using Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14). The oral health status was assessed using the WHO oral health assessment form 2013. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: SPSS Version 20 was used for statistical analysis. A student t-test was done to compare means. RESULTS: The prevalence of dental caries is 62.5% in the production line and 74.9% in administration workers, and the prevalence of periodontal status is 91.6% and 74.8%, respectively. The mean of OHIP-14 was 2.13 ± 0.73 in the production line and 2.33 ± 0.77 in administration workers. All domains of OHIP-14 were found to have high statistical significance with dental caries, periodontal pocket depth, loss of attachment, oral mucosal lesions, dental erosion, and dental trauma in both study groups (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: OHIP-14 scores were related significantly with oral health status indicators in both study groups. The prevalence of the periodontal disease, oral mucosal lesions, and OHIP-14 scores was found to be significantly higher among production line workers.
ABSTRACT
AIM: To assess the periodontal health condition and treatment needs among elderly people aged 60-85 years residing as inmates in the eight old age homes in East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to verify the oral health condition and treatment needs among elderly people aged 60-85 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Modified World Health Organization (WHO) 2013 oral health assessment pro forma for adults was used to assess the oral health status and treatment needs, the clinical assessment of oral mucosa, loss of attachment (LOA) , community periodontal index, dentition status, and treatment need. Prosthetic status and prosthetic needs and related oral health information were obtained from WHO Oral Health Assessment Questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: SPSS 23 was used for statistical analysis. Chi-square test was used for age- and gender-wise comparison. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Among the study subjects aged 60-74 years, there were 28.1% males and 25.9% females, and in 75-85 years, 30.6% were males 15.3% were females. In terms of periodontal status (pocket scores), 66.2% of elderly people have pocket scores 6 mm or more and presence of gingival bleeding in 75.9% of study subjects. Almost 24.4% had LOA scores of 12 mm or more. Comparison of LOA scores based on age and gender was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Of the study participants, 50.3% need prompt treatment (including scaling). Almost more than half of the study participants require one or multiunit prosthesis as only 10.93% of elderly population has ≥20 or more natural teeth present. CONCLUSION: The study showed poor periodontal health among institutionalized elderly inmates. Oral mucosal lesions were found to be higher and oral health status was very deprived among the study population.
