Oral hygiene practices among visually impaired school-going individuals in Bengaluru city, Karnataka, India

Aim: To investigate the oral hygiene practices of visually impaired school-going individuals. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on visually impaired school-going individuals in Bengaluru city, Karnataka. Cluster random sampling was conducted to recruit the participants. The information about the demographic details and oral hygiene practices was collected on a structured format by an interviewer. The data were analyzed using IBM SPPS Package (ver. 13) and Chi-square test was used for comparative analysis. Results: In the study, a total of 380 subjects were included in the age group 7-20 years. The tooth cleaning routine done twice daily was performed more by females (69%) than by males (31%) and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). It was significantly higher in individuals who had visited a dentist in the past than the nonvisitors (P < 0.05). Conclusion: From the present study, it can be concluded that oral hygiene practices among visually impaired school-going individuals were not appropriate and there is a need to improve their knowledge regarding oral hygiene practices.