Game-Based Oral Hygiene Education Shows Promise in Children With Sensory Impairments: Study

A new study published in the Journal of Education and Health Promotion showed that an educational intervention using games showed strong validity and was well-received in encouraging good oral hygiene in children with sensory impairments.

Kids who have sensory impairments tend to have bad dental hygiene, along with a high occurrence of gum disease and tooth decay. Customized educational programs that involve multiple senses could help enhance oral health habits, including tooth brushing techniques. Hence, this research aimed to create and confirm the effectiveness of a game-based educational program that uses multiple senses to teach tooth brushing to kids who have visual and hearing impairments.

A research design focused on development was employed. Following a review of literature and interviews with experts, a model was created. It underwent validation by dentists and special educators and was then tested in the field with 15 children who had visual impairment and 15 with hearing impairment. This testing consisted of 7 play sessions conducted over a span of 4 weeks. Structured feedback was used to evaluate how understandable and acceptable the model was, while the effectiveness was determined by assessing the improvement in toothbrushing skills.

Experts unanimously agreed on the importance, step-by-step accuracy of the brushing method, and clarity of the game, demonstrating exceptional content validity with an Item-level Content Validity Index (I-CVI) and k* =1.00. Dentists recommended slight adjustments concerning the order flexibility, while a special teacher proposed using audio or light signals.

Kids with visual disabilities found the game and brushing technique straightforward to grasp and the components easy to manage, rating them highly enjoyable, and some even suggested using larger models (I-CVI = 1.00, I-CVI = 0.93). Children with hearing impairments displayed complete consensus on all game aspects. The children displayed enhancements in their tooth brushing abilities (W = 0.00, P < 0.05).

Overall, a newly created educational game using multiple senses to teach tooth brushing has shown strong validity and acceptance, leading to notable enhancements in tooth-brushing abilities in children with visual and hearing challenges. These results indicate that the game has the potential to be a comprehensive tool for promoting oral health inclusively, aiming to reduce the prevalence of preventable oral diseases in this group. By incorporating it into the National Health Mission programs such as Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the reach and impact of this game could be significantly broadened. 

Reference: 

Nalini, H. E., Chaly, P. E., Asokan, S., Sudhakar, U., Balakrishnan, K., & Muthusamy, K. (2026). Design and validation of a multisensory game-based tooth brushing education tool for children with visual and hearing impairment. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 15(1), 354. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_346_26