The impact of integration of a dental module into the existing integrated child development services scheme in Chennai, India

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of reinforced oral health awareness program to the children, parents and Anganwadi workers on the oral hygiene and oral health status of the children in Anganwadi centers functioning under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) services all around Chennai city, Tamil Nadu, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This longitudinal study was conducted among 511 study participants. All the study participants, their parents and Anganwadi workers attended an oral health education program. Oral hygiene and the oral health status of the children were assessed using a debris and WHO Pro forma 2013 at the baseline and after 1 year. Follow-up debris score was collected after 3 weeks, 1, 3, and 6 months in all the 12 zones divided into three groups, i.e., Groups A, B, and C according to the re-intervention schedule. RESULTS: A highly significant reduction in the debris scores of the study participants was observed between each follow-up data collection (P = 0.001) regardless of the groups. A significant reduction (P = 0.001) in terms of the prevalence of dental caries, filled with no caries, missing teeth, gingival bleeding, and oral mucosal lesions were observed in the children between the baseline and final assessment after 1 year. CONCLUSION: A definite paradigm shift was observed in the present study after incorporation of the dental module, which could be taken up as an example to include oral health education and oral health checkups to the existing ICDS scheme, which was lacking before.