Objective: The present study was an in-vivo comparative study done on visually challenged children to evaluate the effect of a personally supervised tooth-brushing programme using audio-tactile performance technique on their oral health status.
Materials and Methods: The study compared the oral hygiene status of 75 visually impaired children in the age group 6-16 years after imparting oral hygiene maintainence instructions by three different methods viz Verbal instruction method, Braille script method and Audio-Tactile performance technique. Children were randomly assigned to three equal groups of 25 each. Oral hygiene status was evaluated before oral prophylaxis and after imparting education by assessing the scores of Gingival index by Loe and Silness and Turesky Modification of Quigley-Hein Plaque Index.
Results: On application of Kruskal - Wallis test, mean GI on visit at 1st week was not found alike (p = 0.007).Pairwise comparison with Tukey HSD test found significant difference between Groups 1 and 3.
Conclusion: The results of the present study concluded that it is required to frame a customized and individualized teaching approach and child specific oral health instructions program which has the capacity to address and resolve the unique problems of visually challenged .These education methods need to be extended and taught to parents and other responsible persons like caretakers and instructors so that repeated reinforcement can be performed periodically and this might bring about a complete and comprehensive oral health maintainence for the blind individuals.
