Oral and Dental Health Status in Orphan Children of Lucknow

Background: Orphans lack parental support and receive little oral health care. Therefore there is a propensity to develop a variety of oral lesions. Sometimes these lesions are exclusive to oral cavity or may present as an initial manifestation of a more complex underlying problem. Objective: This study hereby aims to compare the oral and dental health status of children living in orphanages and children living with their families. Materials & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Lucknow city among children of age group 5-14 years living in orphanages and school children living with their parents of Lucknow city. A total of 80 orphan children and 80 school children of age group 5-14 years were taken for the study. To obtain the requisite number of school children, three schools of the similar socio economic strata as of orphanages were selected randomly from nearby area of orphanages. Results: About 21.8 percent school children were without any clinical finding whereas only 2.5 percent orphan children had no clinical finding. The hard tissue lesions were found in 83.7 percent while these were in 57.2 percent school children. The soft tissue lesions were found in 70.0 percent orphan children while these were in 31.2 percent school children. Conclusions: Majority of orphan children were suffering from oral and dental problem. Most common hard tissue finding was dental caries and soft tissue finding were Aphthous and Coated tongue in orphanages. Overall oral and dental health of orphan children were poorer than school children.