Oral health status and treatment needs among institutionalized deaf children in the middle region of Iraq .

Abstract

A deaf child from birth has experienced disturbed leaming which affect
his/her intellectual skills, social environment and emotional relation ship. There fore
this oral health survey was conducted among 519 deaf persons and 532 students aged
61-5 years in the middle region of Iraq (Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Salah AlDeen ,
Bayblon and Kerbala). The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the
oral health status and treatment needs of deaf persons and students in the same
geographical area. Results showed that 40.66% of deaf persons were caries free
compared to schools students 33.46%; dmfs mean value of deaf persons was found to
be lower (3.935 :l: 0.312) than that of students (4.252 dc 0,277) while DMF S mean
value in deaf persons was higher (0.763 1 0.095) than that recorded in students (0.603
)080.6 6 with no statistically significant difference. Higher percentage of deaf person
and schools students were found in need of two or more surface restoration 30.44% ,
%30804 respectively. Deaf persons demonstrated a higher mean plaque index value
68051( t 0.012) and gingival index value (1.098 i 0.914 i 0.012) respectively, so
efforts should be made to ensure access to preventive care .