Oral Health Comparison In Special Schools Using Cloud-Based Charting Tools

Abstract

Aim or Purpose: To assess oral health related to caries experience amongst people with disability attending to four institutions in Cordoba, Argentina, using a cloud-based e-charting tool platform.-Material and Methods: Oral health information was gathered from 144 patients, aged 6?49 years attending to 4 special education institutions (A, B, C and D) in Cordoba city, Argentina, during the months of November/December 2017 by 5 calibrated eCharters. DMFT and ICDAS criteria were used to assess caries experience. Data was registered using a cloud-based e-charting tool and analyzed using its statistical software.Results: Prevalence of caries and DMFT mean values were 81% and 5.01 respectively for the four institutions. The comparison between institutions revealed that institution D (n = 26) showed higher caries activity than A (n = 53), B (n = 52) and C (n = 13) although M and F components of the score indicated that participants had received some kind of dental treatment. Higher treatment needs were detected in institutions B and C, where D component of the score was close to the DMFT value. Regarding ICDAS, 88% of the lesions were diagnosed as categories 4 to 6. The e-charting tool generated real-time epidemiological profiles of the people attending to these institutions, allowing immediate feedback to the families involved as well as to the professionals in charge of strategic planning.Conclusion: Caries experience in people with disability in CordobA-is high irrespective of the institution they attend. Immediate actions may be taken using epidemiological predictors such as real-time descriptive statistics provided by this cloud-based chart-ing platform.