Assessment of oral health status and prevalence of dental caries and molar incisor hypomineralization among asthmatic children: An observational study

Background: Asthma as a systemic disease and the medication used for its management may have impact on the oral health status of individual. Aim and Objectives: To assess the oral health status and prevalence of dental caries and MIH among asthmatic children and to assess any association with different variables. Method and Materials: It was an observational study done on 8-12 years old children reporting to the asthma clinic of a tertiary health center. Adapted and structured assessment from was used to collect various independent variables. Clinical parameters such as dental caries, periodontal status, Molar incisor hypomineralization, salivary flow rate were assessed. Shapiro-Wilk test, Student-t test, Mann-Whitney test, Chi-square test, KruskalWallis test were used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean Decayed Missing Filled tooth, Molar Incisor Hypomineralization, Plaque Index, Gingival Index score were 2.90, 0.15, 0.97, 0.50 respectively in asthmatic children. The difference with non-asthmatic group was non-significant. The mean salivary flow rate was 0.292 ml/min in asthmatic group. Conclusion: Salivary flow rate was significantly reduced in asthmatic children as compared to non-asthmatic children. Other variables such as DMFT, MIH, gingival and periodontal indices did not differ significantly from non-asthmatic group.