A Prod into the Efficacy of Visual Medium in Enhancing Oral Health Behaviour among Aural & Verbally Challenged Children via a RCT, in Bhubaneswar city, Odisha

A P****rod into the E****fficacy of V****isual M****edium in E****nhancing Oral Health Behaviour among A****ural & V****erbally C****hallenged C****hildren via a RCT, in Bhubaneswar city, Odisha

**Need for the Study :**Dental care is the most unmet health care need of the disabled children. It is observed that these children relatively have poorer oral hygiene and increased prevalence of gingival diseases and dental caries due to lack of proper brushing techniques and habits.

Aim/s of the Study:

A Prod into the efficacy of  visual mediums  in Enhancing Oral Health Behaviour in Aural and Verbally  Challenged Institutionalised Children of 6-12 years old in Bhubaneswar City, Odisha.

|Objective/s of the Study:

1. To encompass proper knowledge regarding oral health maintenance among the hearing and speech  impaired children.

2. To educate the children regarding proper brushing technique using  different visual aids (picture book , video & sign language)

3. To compare the oral hygiene among hearing and speech impaired children of 6-12 years old in two groups .

Materials & Methods

A double blinded, randomized clinical trial will be carried out on 70 hearing and speech impaired school children of 6–12 years in Bhubaneswar City, Odisha. Permission will be obtained from the  institution for hearing and speech impaired children. The study procedure will consist of a baseline data, interventions, one reinforcement for allocated groups, and followup examinations after 3 months. Children will be selected by the probability simple random sampling method and will be divided into three groups.

Study design and its purpose will be explained to the school authorities, and former consent will be procured by the parents/guardians of the children from the school for deaf and mute. An interactive session will be conducted at the beginning of the study, in order to create a good rapport and understanding with the children. Documentation will be done using a selfdesigned format that will include personal details such as name, age, gender and questionnaire which will be given to the institutionalized students to fill out.

Before the start of the study, baseline data of Plaque index and Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified will be recorded for Groups I and II . Two individuals who will be trained and calibrated before beginning the study to eliminate inter examiner and intra examiner bias, will perform the interview and clinical oral examination.

Individually, each participant will be explained about maintenance of good oral hygiene, curbing sweets intake to not more than three times/day,  the role of fluoride in prevention of dental caries, Fone’s brushing technique, and to brush their teeth twice daily through booklet, sign language video and manualism.  Caretakers will be advised and instructed to make a check on all the participants of their daily brushing frequency. The brushing technique and proper maintenance of oral hygiene will be explained to the teachers so that they could include a session in their daily classes (until the time of the intervention).

Group I (Picture book) will be given a book on oral health which will include the simple pictures and facts about teeth and their functions, the foods which are good and bad for oral health,balanced diet,Fone’s brushing technique,oral hygiene routine,some exercises and a self maintaining planner of their frequency of brushing. The book will be printed in Odia language for the convenience of the students.

For Group II( video group), the contents which are present in the book will be explained with the help of sign language by a trained individual who is trained in sign language.

Oral hygiene will be assessed using Plaque index and Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified.

|Sample size determination:

Determination of sample size is done by G Power Software.

**11.1 Sample Size:**70

|11.2 Source of Data :

BBC GOVT VOCATIONAL HSS FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED. Unit -3, BBSR -22

|11.3 Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria:

Inclusion-

hearing and speech impaired children

Patient acceptance/cooperation for oral examination

Parental compliance.

Exclusion-

Concomitant medical conditions

Patient cooperation not attained

Parental consent not obtained

|6.4 Method of Collection of  Data (Including sampling Procedure, if any):

Baseline data will be taken which will include selfdesigned format that will include personal details such as name, age, gender which will be provided to the students to fill out , assessing their daily oral hygiene practice. Followed by the intervention for the two groups.

After 15 days follow up will be done and then after 2months final analysis of the data will be done.