The impact of medical telecommunications on individual oral hygiene in children with end-stage chronic kidney disease

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the impact of medical telecommunication between pediatric oral surgeons in a hospital setting. Material and methods. The study involved 20 children with ESKD. Study participants were divided into 2 groups: 1st (n=10) – patients diagnosed according to ICD-10 “N18.0 End-stage chronic kidney disease” undergoing renal replacement therapy in the form of hemo- or peritoneal dialysis; 2nd (n=10) – patients diagnosed according to ICD-10 “T86.1 Kidney transplant dysfunction” who are on immunosuppressive therapy. hildren were given online oral hygiene lessons. To assess the effectiveness of oral hygiene, the Green-Vermillion index (oral hygiene index simplified – OHI-S) was calculated before and after training. In addition, for all study participants, the set of personal oral hygiene products was adjusted, taking into account the characteristics of the underlying disease and therapy. Results. All patients demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in IGR-U scores after completing distance learning (before training – 2.29±0.37; after training – 1.32±0.35; t=9.720; df=19). A comparison of the study groups showed that after training, IGR-U statistically significantly decreased in group 1 by almost 2 times (from 2.48±0.32 to 1.31±0.38; t=7.967; df=19; p <0.001), in group 2 – 1.5 times (from 2.09±0.31 to 1.33±0.35; t=7.343; df=19; p<0.001). Conclusion. Medical telecommunication between pediatric dentists, nephrologists, and patients with ESKD significantly improves the quality of individual oral hygiene in a hospital setting.