Effectiveness of oral health educational interventions on oral health of visually impaired school children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Aim: To evaluate the effect of newer and traditional oral health education (OHE) methods in improving oral health knowledge, oral hygiene status and practices, plaque, gingival, and dental caries status of visually impaired children. Methodology: Comprehensive literature search was performed by using PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, Google scholar, and Open Gray from 2010 to 2020 for studies in English language. Two reviewers critically assessed the studies for eligibility criteria, and data extraction was performed. Quality assessment of selected studies was executed according to the study designs. A meta-analysis was carried out using Review Manager 5.3 software. Results: Twenty-four articles were included for qualitative synthesis and out that 11 in meta-analysis. Cumulative standardized mean difference for plaque (Silness and Loe, 1964) and gingival index (Loe and Silness, 1963) was -0.45 (-0.88, -0.02, p = 0.04) and -0.54 (-1.10, 0.03, p = 0.06), respectively favoring newer OHE group as compared to traditional OHE group. Comparison of different newer OHE methods had similar effects on the oral health of visually impaired children. Conclusion: The study period of included studies was short-term, so long-term effectiveness could not be assessed, however newer OHE methods were effective in improving plaque and gingival scores over a short period.