Oral Health Education Targeting People With Visual Impairments

The aim of this study was to review the literature about oral health promotion and oral disease prevention for patients with visual impairment. A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed Central, BVS (Virtual Health Library) and Scopus without restriction for publication date. Clinical trials in English, Portuguese and Spanish that presented any oral health promotion intervention targeting people with visual impairments were included. The articles were selected and data extracted by author. The search resulted in 688 articles from the PubMed, BVS and Scopus websites. Three hundred and three repeated items were eliminated and, among the others, 9 that addressed the topic of this review were selected. The publication dates of the studies ranged from 1991 to 2013. The total number of visually impaired participants of these studies was 431, aged 6 to 49 years. All educational interventions were effective and performed by dentists. The verbal guidance was the most used educational resource. The results demonstrated the need and importance of implementing strategies for oral health education for this population. Oral hygiene orientation programs involving tailored resources and verbal communication are effective in establishing a routine for proper hygiene, providing knowledge to patients and their families, with improvement in oral health indices.

Special Education; Dental Health; Blindness