Association of abnormal oral habits with body mass index among 6–12-year-old school children in and around Melmaruvathur: A cross-sectional study

Background: The habit of eating more of sugary drinks and foods with high in trans fats and excessive saturated fatty foods, when the person is in stress has an effect on the individual's weight. Objectives: To evaluate the body mass index (BMI) and determine its association with abnormal oral habits in 6–12-year-old school-going children. Materials and Methods: The 46 schools were selected based on simple random sampling technique and all children who were aged between 6 and 12 years were included in the study. Among 5525 children screened, 1665 (30.13%) had various types of abnormal oral habits. The BMI of these children was calculated. The obtained BMI values were compared using Chi-square test in IBM SPSS windows version 20 software, where P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The association between bruxism, lip biting, nail biting, and pencil biting habits with their BMI was found to be statistically significant and other habits like thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, mouth breathing and masochistic habits with their BMI which was found to be statistically non-significant. Conclusion: The children with stress-related oral habits had high BMI and their associations were found to be statistically significant. Hence, identification of children with stress-related oral habits and sensitization of parents, teachers, and the caregiver is of great importance

Comparative evaluation of audio and audio - tactile methods to improve oral hygiene status of visually impaired school children

Background: Visually impaired children are unable to maintain good oral hygiene, as their tactile abilities are often underdeveloped owing to their visual disturbances. Conventional brushing techniques are often poorly comprehended by these children and hence, it was decided to evaluate the effectiveness of audio and audio-tactile methods in improving the oral hygiene of these children. Objective: To evaluate and compare the effectiveness of audio and audio-tactile methods in improving oral hygiene status of visually impaired school children. Materials and Methods: In this study, the total study group comprised 48 visually impaired children that were randomly divided into two groups, with one group receiving the audio method and the other group receiving the audio-tactile method. Periodic reinforcement of health education was performed at an interval of 2 months. Re-examination was carried out after 2 months of health education to assess plaque scores. Data were statistically analyzed using paired t-test. Results: There was reduction in plaque scores in audio-tactile group after health education. In the audio-tactile group, the mean plaque scores of pre- and post-health education were 1.28 and 0.95, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). In audio group, the mean plaque scores of pre- and post-health education were 1.15 and 0.14, respectively. The difference was statistically nonsignificant (P < 0.07). Conclusion: Visually impaired children could maintain an acceptable level of oral hygiene when taught using special customized methods. However, reinforcement at regular intervals is required for the maintenance of oral hygiene