Dentition status and treatment needs among children with impaired hearing attending a special school for the deaf and mute in Udaipur, India.

The present cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of caries and treatment needs among 127 institutionalized subjects aged 5-22 years attending a special school for students with hearing impairment in Udaipur City, Rajasthan, India. The data were collected using the methods and standards recommended by the WHO for oral health surveys, 1997. Dentition status and treatment needs along with DMFT, DMFS, dmft, dmfs were recorded using a Type III examination procedure. ANOVA, chi-squared test and multiple regression analysis were conducted using the SPSS software package (version 11.0). The mean DMFT was 2.61. Of the 127 subjects, 111 (87.4 %) needed treatment. Filling of one tooth surface was necessary for 79.5% of the subjects. Pulp treatment was needed in less than 7%. There was a high prevalence (83.92%) of decayed teeth, whereas only 7.14% of subjects had filled teeth. Multiple regression analysis showed that DMFT had a close association with age. Linear regression analysis revealed that age explained a variance of 32% and 25.4% for DMFT and dmft respectively The findings of this study demonstrate that young people with impaired hearing in this region have a high prevalence of dental caries, poor oral hygiene, and extensive unmet needs for dental treatment. This highly alarming situation requires immediate attention.