Oral-dental hygiene and oral microorganisms in children with and without congenital heart disease

Objective This study was done to compare the dental and oralhygiene status of children with and without congenital heart dis-ease (CHD) by investigating oral microorganisms and dental andoral hygiene indices.Methods A cross-sectional study was done on children aged 2 to15 years from April 2002 to December 2003 at the Department ofChild Health, Haji Adam Malik Hospital, Medan. There were twosubject groups, the first consisting of children with CHD and thesecond of those without. The dental and oral hygiene status wasdetermined by determining caries index and oral hygiene index.Swabs from the subjects’ upper first molars were taken and cul-tured to determine the types of microorganisms present. Data wereanalyzed using the chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and t-test.Results There was a significant difference in mean oral hygieneindex between children with (mean 2.75; SD 1.85) and without(mean 1.45; SD 0.78) CHD (P