| dc.description.abstract | Background: HIV infection in children is associated with immune suppression and susceptibility to various opportunistic infections. There is also an increased risk of dental diseases.
Objective: Was to determine the oral health status and HIV related oral
manifestations in children living with HIV/AIDS.
Setting: Nyumbani and New Life childrens homes and outpatient Comprehensive Care Centres at Kenyatta National Hospital and Coast Province General Hospital.
Study design: Cross-sectional descriptive study over a period of three months.
Subjects: Two hundred and thirty seven children aged between 2-15 years living with HIV infection/AIDS.
Methodology: The parents /guardians of the children answered a structured
questionnaire on the oral health practices, oral complaints and whether the children were on ARV's.
A clinical oro-facial examination of the study subjects was undertaken to determine the oral health status and prevalence of HIV oral lesions. The findings were then recorded in a modified WHO oral health assessment form.
The data were analysed using S.P.S.S. version 11.0. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done using the X2,Mann Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis and Student T tests setting the p value at 0.05.
Results: Of the 237 participants, there were 112(47.3%) males and 125(52.7%)
females, with mean age of 7.5 years.
A fair oral hygiene was elicited in 161(67.9%) while 49(20.7%) presented with high plaque scores and only 27(11.4%) had good oral hygiene.
Two hundred and five (86.5%) children presented with gingivitis among whom 115(48.5%) had mild gingivitis, 89(37.6%) moderate gingivitis and one child (0.4%) severe gingivitis.
The deciduous dentition caries prevalence was 84.4% with a mean dmft of 6.38(± S05.45). Caries prevalence in the permanent dentition was 78.3% and the mean OMFT score was 3.35 (± SO 3.55).
The dental parameters varied according to the study centres, gender, oral health
practices, oral complaints and immune suppression state.
The prevalence of HIV related oral manifestations was 45.8%. Candidiasis was the most common (40.9%), 6.3% had oral ulcerations, 3.7% bilateral parotid
4 enlargement and 1.7% linear gingival erythema. The frequency of oral manifestations was higher amongst children from the Comprehensive Care Centers (p<O.05), those with increased severity of gingivitis, primary dentition caries, poor oral health practices, and oral complaints (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The oral health status of children living with HIV/AIOS is generally poor with a high prevalence of dental disease and HIV related oral
manifestations.
Recommendations: Primary care of HIV infected children should include dental
management to alleviate symptoms associated with oral opportunistic infections related to HIV infection and institution of preventive oral health care measures. | en_US |
