Effectiveness Of Two Sensory-Based Health Education Methods On Oral Hygiene Of Adolescent With Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Interventional Study

Aim: This study was undertaken with an aim to evaluate the effectiveness of two sensory-based interventions namely - Visual pedagogy and Mobile based application (Brush Up) on oral health education in promoting oral health status among 13-17 year old school going adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Chennai city.Methodology: An interventional parallel arm study consisting of 13- to 17-year-old school going adolescent with ASD in Chennai city. Plaque Index (Sillness and Loe, 1964) and gingival index (Loe and Sillness, 1963) were assessed at baseline, 6th week and after 12th week.Results: A significant difference in plaque (p = < 0.001) and gingival scores (p = < 0.001) were seen among the groups after 6 and 12 weeks post-intervention. There was no statistically significant difference in dental plaque (p = 0.912, 1.023, 0.812) and gingival scores (p = 0.932, 0.264, 0.283) between the groups at all the timelines.Conclusion: In this present study we found that both the visual cards and mobile based application (Brush Up) had significantly reduced the dental plaque and gingival scores; hence both the modalities can be used as an effective tool in educating these children and thus improve their oral hygiene.