Oral Hygiene Levels in Children of Tribal Population of Eastern Ghats: An Epidemiological Study

BACKGROUND Oral hygiene has been given due importance since ages. Different cultures have been using different methods for the maintenance of good oral hygiene. The study was done to find out the oral hygiene levels in children of tribal population and to correlate the brushing methods used and the oral hygiene levels. METHODOLOGY A total of 5129 children of 5-12 years age (boys 2778, girls 2351) were checked for the simplified oral hygiene index in the study. RESULTS The overall oral hygiene status of 1267 girls and 1348 boys was fair, whereas 821 girls and 937 boys was good and 263 girls and 493 boys was poor. It has been shown that fair oral hygiene practices were being followed by the children. CONCLUSION Children using twigs and other materials for oral hygiene had nearly equally good oral hygiene when compared to the tooth brush and tooth paste, though children using toothbrush and tooth paste had slightly better oral hygiene.