Purpose: To assess the dental health of orphan and non-orphan children in Fuyang City, China.
Materials and Methods: A total of 332 orphan children were selected from social child welfare institutes and 590 non-orphan children were selected from the Experimental Primary and Middle Schools through random sampling in Fuyang City, China. The indices for Decayed, Missing, Filling (DMF) in orphan and non-orphan children were determined by dental inspections to assess their dental health. The periodontal status of orphan and non-orphan children aged 12–15 years was determined using the percentages of bleeding gingiva and dental calculus.
Results: In the age range of 3 to 5 years, the percentage of caries (81%) and the mean DMF (4.41; SD: 2.06; 95% CI: 3.82 to 5.00) of orphan children were statistically significantly higher than the percentage of caries (64%) and the mean DMF of the non-orphan control cohort (3.29; SD: 2.05; 95% CI: 2.87 to 3.71; p < 0.05). In the age range of 12 to 15 years, the percentage of caries (50.8%) and the mean DMF (1.28; SD: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.12 to 1.43) of orphan children were statistically significantly higher than the percentage of caries (34.5%) and the mean DMF (1.11; SD: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.23; p < 0.05) of non-orphan children. For orphan children ages 3 to 5 years, the percentage of restorations was statistically significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of non-orphan children (30%). For orphan children ages 12 to 15 years, the percentage of restorations was 3.9%, statistically significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of non-orphan children (19.4%). In orphan children ages 12 to 15 years, the percentages of bleeding gingiva (76.0%) and dental calculus (69.3%) were statistically significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those of the non-orphan children (46.2% and 39.1%, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference in the evaluation indicators above between different genders within the groups studied, except the percentage of restorations.
Conclusion: The dental health of orphan children in Fuyang City is worse than that of non-orphan children of the same age ranges. The values determined in this study can be used as a starting metric to measure the effectiveness of dental health care programs in improving the dental health of both orphan and non-orphan children.