Oral Health Status of Children with Special Healthcare Need: A Retrospective Analysis

AIM: To evaluate the oral health status of children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) having either systemic illness or any disabilities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of oral health status was done from Jan 2013 to Dec 2018 on 58 CSHCN (both genders) up to 16 years of age. The oral health status of patients was assessed with the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT/dmft) indices and simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S) by using the World Health Organization (WHO) 2013 oral health survey criteria. RESULTS: Fair oral hygiene was dominantly present (62%) among all the subjects. Association between oral hygiene status and systemic illness/disability was done using the Chi-squared (χ(2)) test and was found statistically nonsignificant. The overall mean DMFT/dmft found was 4.16. The highest mean DMFT/dmft score was recorded in nephrotic syndrome patients (16.0%), while the least score was seen among cleft anomalies (1.89%). Comparison between mean DMFT/dmft scores among various systemic illnesses/disabilities were done using Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance (Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA) test and found statistically significant (p-value 0.048). CONCLUSION: The majority of the CSHCN fall under fair oral hygiene status. A high caries prevalence and statistically significant value were demonstrated between mean DMFT/dmft scores of various systemic illnesses/disabilities. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Present study aids in understanding the needs of the community, identifying high-risk groups, planning the required treatment and prevention strategies, and thus monitoring and improving the oral health status of children with special healthcare needs. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Patidar D, Sogi S, Patidar DC. Oral Health Status of Children with Special Healthcare Need: A Retrospective Analysis. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2022;15(4):433-437.