Allied health – 3009. Comparative assessment of dental caries experience, oral hygiene status, gingival health status, salivary Streptococcus mutans count and Lactabacillus count between asthmatic and non-asthmatic children aged between 5-12 years in Davangere City, Karnataka, India

Methods A cross sectional comparative study was conducted on 5-12 years old, 40 asthmatic and 62 non-asthmatic subjects in Davanagere city. Selection criteria – a) children with diagnosis of asthma as diagnosed by lung function test by the medical officer of the asthma care centre, Bapuji Hospital, Davanagere, who were currently on asthmatic medication belonging to 5-12 year age group residing in Davanagere city. b) The non-asthmatic status of selected controls was ascertained by asking certain relevant questions to the children and their parents which can elicit the presence of symptoms of asthma. Cases and controls were matched for gender, age, socio-economic status, diet and oral hygiene practices. Relevant and required information regarding demographic characteristics and asthmatic status was obtained. DMFT index and def index were used to assess the dental caries status. Oral Hygiene Simplified Index (OHI-S) and Gingival Index were used to assess the oral hygiene status and gingival status respectively. Paraffin stimulated saliva sample was collected from both asthmatic and non-asthmatic subjects for microbiological analysis.