Oral health literacy intervention among caregivers of HIV positive children - An altruistic step in dental care for smile from within

Background: HIV is one of the leading causes of death globally with approximately 10% mortality in pediatric population. Pediatric HIV infection is associated with a wide spectrum of lesions in the oral cavity and more than 90% of HIV infected patients will have at least one HIV related oral manifestation in the course of their disease. The rationale behind this study is to create awareness about oral health knowledge among the caregivers of the children living with HIV. Objectives: 1. To determine the oral health knowledge among the caregivers of HIV positive children using a questionnaire. 2. To provide oral health education among the caregivers of HIV positive children. 3. To assess the impact of oral health knowledge among the caregivers through the same questionnaire after oral health literacy intervention. Methods: A Pre post intervention trial was done using a self- structured questionnaire comprising of 24 questions to determine the oral health knowledge among the caregivers of HIV positive children and also to assess the impact of oral health knowledge among the caregivers through the same questionnaire after oral health literacy intervention. Results and Interpretation: It was found that the difference in knowledge after the intervention was found to be statistically not significant for few questions and statistically significant for few questions as part of the Questionnairre using Wilcoxon Signed rank test. Conclusion: The study reveals that caregiver’s of HIV positive children lacked adequate knowledge on the oral health prior to the health education and post education a significant outcome on the knowledge increase among the caregivers was noticed.