Oral health needs and barriers to care in children with congenital heart disease / Hafizah Mohammad

Hafizah , Mohammad (2024) Oral health needs and barriers to care in children with congenital heart disease / Hafizah Mohammad. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

As an introduction, the number of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) in Malaysia has been reported to be increased. Children with CHD are reported to have more dental issues and poorer oral health. as compared to healthy children according to studies done overseas. Due to their underlying CHD, the poorer oral health condition can have systemic implications such as infective endocarditis (IE). This study aims to validate an adapted questionnaire to be used on children with CHD and to determine their oral health needs, oral health status in (DMFT and gingival index score), and barriers to dental care among children with CHD as compared to the control group. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Dentistry and Universiti Malaya Medical Centre on children aged 3 to 12 with and without an underlying CHD. The parents or guardians answered the questionnaire while their children underwent oral health assessment using WHO dmft/DMFT and gingival health using Lobene Modified Gingival Index (MGI). Descriptive data analysis was done for sociodemographic background and Chi-square and Fisher’s Exact test were used to determine the association between variables and compare CHD and the control group. There is a significant association between children with CHD and never visited dentist and the perceived dental need for dental check-ups is also significantly higher in children with CHD. Children with CHD also have significantly higher gingivitis. This is supported by significant association in children with CHD with barriers to dental care which is significantly associated with children with CHD such as children’s behaviour and parent’s time constraint. The questionnaire is valid and reliable to be used as a tool to determine the oral health needs and barriers to care in children with CHD. A higher number of children with CHD never visited the dentist and need for dental check-ups. Their gingival health is also poorer than the control group. This is indicated by the significant association with a few barriers in children with CHD in getting dental care. (329 words)

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