Influence of lifestyle factors on oral health status among 7-15 years visually impaired and sighted school children of Bangalore city

Objectives: The effects of daily lifestyle habits and practices on health have been seen specially on disabled population who are at increased risk of developing diseases due to various social challenges. The deep understanding of the lifestyle requires studying a person’s attitude, values, practices, and cultural and social environment. This study is aimed to assess and evaluate the association between lifestyle factors and oral health status among 7–15 years visually impaired and sighted school children of Bangalore city. Material and Methods: The study was conducted with self-administered lifestyle questionnaire consisting of 29 close-ended questions and a combined pro forma of World Health Organization oral health assessment and simplified oral hygiene index. Results: The result showed a significant difference between normal and visually impaired children in mean lifestyle values with 6.85 and 5.64, respectively. There was also a significant difference between debris index simplified scores with 70.6% of normal children that have good debris scores compared to 56.5% of visually impaired children. Conclusion: The study shows poor oral hygiene, gingival health, and lifestyle scores among visually impaired children. The knowledge to keep teeth sound and healthy was less among the visually impaired children than the normal sighted children. Furthermore, visually impaired children had a poor regular dental visits than their non-visually impaired counterparts. The fear of unknown was more among the visually impaired than the normal children which again were reflected on their dental visits timings. Less social interactions, poor motivations, and parental negligence might be the reasons for increased caries and gingivitis rates among visually impaired than normal school going children.