Title

Malocclusion, oral hygiene and gingivitis: Prevalence and interrelationship among Patna children aged 6–14 years

Authors

Jaya Lakshmi¹, Jeevendra Nath Shukla², Siddharth Anand³,*, Prerna Anand⁴, Preeti Sagar⁵ & Bhavna⁶

Affiliation

¹Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Consultant Pediatric Dentist, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; ²Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Buddha Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Kankarbagh, Patna, Bihar, India; ³Department of Dentistry, Katihar Medical College and Hospital, Karim Bagh, Sirsa, Katihar, Bihar, India; ⁴Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Haldia Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Haldia, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India; ⁵Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Mithila Minority Dental College and Hospital, Laheriasarai, Darbhanga, Bihar, India; ⁶Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Consultant Oral Physician, Highgate Dental Center, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Jaya Lakshmi - E-mail: drjaya244@gmail.com

Jeevendra Nath Shukla - E-mail: jeevshukla@gmail.com

Siddharth Anand - E-mail: drsiddharthanand@yahoo.co.in

Prerna Anand - E-mail: prerna.anand18@gmail.com

Preeti Sagar - E-mail: preet.sagar1212@gmail.com

Bhavna - E-mail: bhavana.mds8@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received July 1, 2026; Revised July 31, 2026; Accepted July 31, 2026, Published July 31, 2026

Abstract

Oral diseases in children are strongly influenced by oral hygiene, but the contribution of malocclusion to plaque accumulation and gingival inflammation remains uncertain. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the relationship between malocclusion, oral hygiene status and gingival health in 200 children aged 6–14 years using the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI), Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified (OHI-S), Plaque Index (PI) and Gingival Index (GI). Malocclusion severity showed no significant association with oral hygiene, plaque accumulation, or gingival status (p > 0.05), whereas strong positive correlations were observed between OHI-S, PI and GI (p < 0.001). Age and gender had no significant influence on the evaluated parameters. Thus, data shows the gingival health is primarily determined by plaque control and oral hygiene practices rather than malocclusion, highlighting the importance of preventive oral hygiene programs in children.

Keywords

Dental aesthetic index (DAI), gingival health, malocclusion, oral hygiene status, plaque index (PI)

Citation

Lakshmi et al. Bioinformation 22(7): 4140-4146 (2026)

Edited by

Hiroj Bagde

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.