Practices regarding oral hygiene among individuals with disabilities attending a special needs institution in Northwestern Nigeria

Background: The oral health of individuals with disabilities is crucial for the reason that they constitute a vulnerable group to undesirable oral diseases. Thus, there is a higher need to practice good oral hygiene among them compared to nondisabled individuals. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the practices regarding oral hygiene among individuals with disabilities attending a special needs institution in Northwestern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey among students with disabilities attending Abdulrasheed Adisa Raji Special School, Sokoto, Northwestern Nigeria. IBM SPSS version 23.0 was utilized for analytics. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the sociodemographic characteristics and the practice of oral hygiene of the participants. Bivariate analysis was used to determine oral hygiene practices by disability type. Significance was pegged at P ≤ 0.05. Results: A total of 236 individuals, 167 (70.8%) males and 69 (29.2%) females aged 6–28 years, participated in the study. Less than a quarter (22.5%; n = 53) cleaned their teeth more than once daily with the majority (82.2%; n = 194) using a toothbrush. Only 12.6% (n = 30) used other oral hygiene aids aside from toothbrushes. Sugary snacks were consumed once or more daily by 64.0% (n = 151) of the participants. A bivariate analysis of oral hygiene practice grades by disability types shows that the visually impaired group reported the best hygiene practice score. The overall mean practice score was 4.62 ± 1.69. The result was statistically significant (P = 0.014). Conclusion: Practices regarding oral hygiene were generally fair in this study. However, specific areas with negative or poor practice exist among participants. Overall oral hygiene practice level was significantly associated with the type of disability.