Oral hygiene status among visually handicapped.

Introduction: Oral hygiene has a great impact on the overall health and well-being of an individual. Maintenance of oral hygiene is particularly challenging in people with ‑special needs. Special needs are a term used in clinical diagnostics and functional development to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical or psychological. Visually handicapped refers to those individuals that are unable to carry out normal activities due to the defects of vision. Materials and Methods: This study was carried among 45 visually handicapped individuals. A survey was conducted about the awareness and knowledge of oral hygiene and the oral hygiene status was also analyzed for every individual (National Institution for the Blind, Poonamallee). The data were collected and analyzed accordingly. Results: About 46% of individuals had fair oral hygiene status and 35% had good hygiene followed by 19% having poor oral hygiene. The majority used toothbrush and toothpaste; among the individuals examined, 90% used manual toothbrush and toothpaste to clean their teeth, whereas 8% used toothbrush and powder. 2% used finger and salt as medium for cleaning their teeth. While a predominant number of sample population 72% brushed only once daily, only 27% of the students brushed twice daily. Conclusion: As per the present study, while it is evident that visually impaired individuals have fair oral hygiene status, they lack knowledge about proper brushing techniques which were one of the reasons for high rate of dental caries. Early identification of caries and proper guideline for maintenances of oral hygiene should be well informed to parents, guardians, and school teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]