Assessment of Caries Impacts and Experiences in a Visually Impaired Versus Sighted Pediatric Population Using a Caries-Specific Quality-of-Life Questionnaire: A Comparative Cross-sectional Study

This observational study aims to compare the quality of life between &caries experience visually impaired and sighted children

Visually impaired people may be at a higher risk of developing oral diseases due to various limitations in activities and perception. In accordance with the WHO Global strategy and action plan on oral health 2023-2030, it is necessary to advance research on people with disabilities to identify the limitations and their consequences in receiving dental health as well as in maintaining good oral health.

Our pilot study showed mean CARIES-QC/A scores of 9.7 ± 7.3 for the visually impaired group and 4.1 ± 3.5 for the sighted group. While this points to a large effect size (d = 0.98), pilot data often inflate these numbers. To avoid an underpowered study, we adopted a more conservative, medium effect size (d = 0.5) for our calculations. This requires a minimum of 63 participants per group. To account for potential dropouts or incomplete data, we rounded our final target up to 70 participants per group.

Caries-related quality of life will be assessed as a primary outcome using CARIES-QC, which is administered to participants through an interview. while the secondary outcome, which is Caries Experience, will be assessed using DMF index for permanent dentition and DMF & def index for mixed dentition Data collected will be saved and tabulated on a computer for backup and finally statistically analyzed.

the finding of this study aims to increase awareness, guide public health programs, reduce dental disease burden, strength school-community partnerships, and promote equity in oral healthcare for visually impaired children.