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Nirmal Ahuja

Bio: Nirmal Ahuja is an academic researcher from Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research. The author has contributed to research in topics: Behavior change & Socioeconomic status. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 3 publications receiving 6 citations.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is important to shift focus from the current biomedical and restricted paradigm on oral health and develop oral health policies and programs considering the socioeconomic status and home environmental factors in improving child OHRQoL outcomes.
Abstract: Introduction: There is an increasing recognition that children's oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is affected by social and environmental factors. Aim: To assess the influence of socioeconomic status and home environment factors on OHRQoL among 13–14-year-old schoolchildren in North Bengaluru. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 800 children aged 13–14 years from government and private schools in North Bengaluru. OHRQoL was assessed using a shorter version of Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ 11-14 ). Socioeconomic status of children was measured using Kuppuswamy's scale. Children were also asked to provide information on home environmental factors. Descriptive, Chi-square, and Mann–Whitney U-tests were used to analyze data. Results: In both government and private schools, mean CPQ 11-14 scores were highest for children belonging to upper lower class followed by the lower middle, upper middle, and upper class of socioeconomic status, showing statistically significant differences ( P 11-14 scores as compared to private schools. ( P Conclusion: It is important to shift focus from the current biomedical and restricted paradigm on oral health and develop oral health policies and programs considering the socioeconomic status and home environmental factors in improving child OHRQoL outcomes.

6 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Oral health problems showed significant association with use of self care behaviors and dental visit, and understanding the extent, to which older adults choose self care behavior in addition to professional dental care is paramount for a comprehensive approach to meeting their health care needs.
Abstract: Objectives: Self-care is one means by which older adults actively engage themselves in managing their oral health without access to professional care. This study aims to assess oral self care behavior and utilization of dental care among rural older adults using Transtheoretical model of behavior change. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 215 people aged 60 years and above in Sathnur, Karnataka. Four villages were selected at random for the purpose of the study. A 13 item questionnaire representing Trans-theoretical model was developed, placing individuals in different stages of behavior change. Data regarding demographic and socio-economic factors was obtained. Descriptive, Chisquare and Fischer exact tests were used to analyze the data. Results: Overall, 33.5% participants were in pre contemplation stage while 66.5% went into contemplation stage. About 35.8% and 30.7% of participants stopped at the preparation and action stage with only 14.9% going till the maintenance stage. 27.2% participants visited the dentist for their oral health problems while 72.7% participants used a variety of self care behaviors, with majority using complementary therapies. Oral health problems showed significant association with use of self care behaviors and dental visit. Conclusion: Understanding the extent, to which older adults choose self care behavior in addition to professional dental care, is paramount for a comprehensive approach to meeting their health care needs.

1 citations


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Adult population of Ghaziabad lack the knowledge and awareness regarding consumption of areca nut, gutka, and tobacco smoking, and there is an urgent need to take effective steps on launching community awareness programs for the adult population and public to educate them about the consequences of tobacco use.
Abstract: Background: Tobacco dependence is a major public health problem that results in significant morbidity and mortality. Approximately, 5 million people are killed annually by tobacco use. Aim: To assess the oral health status among adult tobacco and non-tobacco users attending outreach activities in Ghaziabad District, Uttar Pradesh. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 800 subjects from all the 4 blocks of Ghaziabad district visiting the outreach activities. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to assess the demographic variables and oral hygiene practices. Oral health status was assessed using WHO (World Health Organization) 2013 Oral Health Assessment Form and the Smith and Knight Tooth wear index was used to assess the degree of tooth wear. Statistical analysis was done by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Result: The mean age of the tobacco users in the study was 40.94 (13.83) years. The prevalence of dental caries and tooth wear was 88.0% and 89.2%, respectively. Majority of tobacco users consumed a smokeless form of tobacco 67.5%, followed by smoke 21.5% and followed by both form 11.0%. Conclusion: The present study concluded that adult population of Ghaziabad lack the knowledge and awareness regarding consumption of areca nut, gutka, and tobacco smoking. Hence, there is an urgent need to take effective steps, especially on launching community awareness programs for the adult population and public to educate them about the consequences of tobacco use, and on assessing their effectiveness in curbing the problem.

5 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results of this study show that tooth wear is a consequence of aging and there is an association between tooth wear and dentinal hypersensitivity.
Abstract: Tooth wear is a universal consequence of aging. It is an irreversible, multifactorial and destructive loss of dental hard tissues caused by either a mechanical or chemical process in the absence of caries or trauma. It can be a physiological and age dependent process. The risk factors that contribute to tooth wear are diet, bruxism, environment, occupation, oral health behaviour, acid regurgitation and use of tobacco. This study was done to find out if there is an association between tooth wear and its associated factors. So that we can educate the patients about the various factors causing tooth wear and minimise it. This cross sectional study was done amongst 339 patients. The clinical assessment of tooth wear was done using tooth wear index developed by Smith & Knight. A specifically designed questionnaire was used to seek information on risk factors of tooth wear. All patients were categorised into one of the following groups: Low Tooth Wear group, Moderate Tooth Wear group, Severe Tooth Wear group based on their individual tooth wear surface scores. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s chi-square test and descriptive statistics were calculated. We can see that the severity of tooth wear increases with age i.e, p≤0.05 which is statistically significant. Patients with self reported tooth sensitivity (60.5%) had a higher total tooth wear score than those who didn’t (39.5%) and the result was statistically significant. The results of our study show that tooth wear is a consequence of aging and there is an association between tooth wear and dentinal hypersensitivity.

4 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present findings indicated that the existence of substantial levels of gingivitis might be fatalistically related with how children perceive their oral health and daily life.
Abstract: Introduction Gingivitis is codified as the most familiar oral disease in children and teenagers. Several studies reported that most of the children and adolescents have negative impact on quality of life (QoL) due to gingivitis or destructive periodontal disease or poor oral health status. Existing literature in this context on Indian population is sparse. Hence, this study has been shouldered to find out possible coalition between gingivitis and COHRQoL. Objective This study desires to evaluate the confederation of gingivitis and child oral health-related quality of life (COHRQoL) among school children of Lucknow. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in school going children with the age group of 11-14 years, with a representative sample of 400 students in Lucknow city. For data on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL), a predesigned questionnaire (CPQ11-14) was used for demographic information and questions on oral symptoms, functional limitations, emotional, and social well-being. Gingival status was evaluated by Gingival index (Loe and Silness 1963). Results QoL was found to be moderately affected in children with severe gingivitis as compared with children with no gingivitis, mild, and moderate gingivitis, but this difference was found to be statistically nonsignificant (P = 0.896). Conclusion The present findings indicated that the existence of substantial levels of gingivitis might be fatalistically related with how children perceive their oral health and daily life.

2 citations

30 Jan 2011
TL;DR: The transtheoretical model is one of the models of behaviour change that can be applied to measure dental behaviour change and inform the design of the intervention program.
Abstract: Background: In the recent oral health literature, behaviour is considered as a determinant of oral health. However, dental health practitioners often experience difficulties to encourage their patients to acquire and maintain action to preserve their dental health. Purpose: This review aims to present The Transtheoretical Model as a model of intentional behaviour change that can provides a basis for changing dental behaviour. Reviews: The transtheoretical model describes behaviour change as a process. It occurs stepwise in several stages of change. Each stage has a specific process of change that can effectively promote behaviour change. The progress from one stage to another stage can be also predicted through individual perception about pros and cons of behaviour change and self-efficacy. The transtheoretical model can provide a guidance to understand dental behaviour change. The findings of The transtheoretical model may assist dental health practitioner to develop specific intervention programs of dental behaviour changes based on the stage of change of the patients. The efforts of oral health promotion to change dental behaviours of individuals should consider The transtheoretical model as a basis of intervention. Conclusion: The transtheoretical model is one of the models of behaviour change that can be applied to measure dental behaviour change and inform the design of the intervention program. Key words: The transtheoretical model, dental behaviour

2 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
M. Bagavandas1
TL;DR: In this paper, a multilevel multi-factor index was developed to assess the quality of life of the Malayali tribal population of India at the household and village levels based on nine domains, namely, Demography, Economy, Health, Human Development, Infrastructure Development, Work Participation, Recreation, Social Capital and Self Perception.
Abstract: The main objective of this study is to develop a multilevel multi-factor index to assess the quality of life of the Malayali tribal population of India at the household and village levels based on nine domains, namely, Demography, Economy, Health, Human Development, Infrastructure Development, Work Participation, Recreation, Social Capital and Self Perception. An attempt is made to classify the individuals as well as villages by the overall scores of a multi-factor -index within a community which will help policymakers to develop concrete policy recommendations for the improvement of the quality of life of this tribal group. Multilevel factor analysis is utilized to determine uncorrelated meaningful factors and their respective weights using Mplus software from the nested dataset consists of values of nine domains of 1096 individuals collected from 19 villages. A multilevel multi-factor index is constructed using the weights of these factors. The qualities of the lives of different households and different villages are assessed using the scores of this index. Three different factors are identified at household as well as village levels. The quality of life at Households and Village levels are classified as poor, low, moderate, good, and excellent based on five quintiles of the scores of the multi-factor index, and the contribution of each domain in this classification is ascertained. This study finds that at household as well as at village levels, the quality of life of the individuals of this tribal population increases with an increase in education, income, and occupation status which make them lead a healthy life and also make them to find time and money to spend on recreation. Infrastructure is not important at the household level but not so at the village level. The main purpose of developing this kind of multi-factor index at different levels is to provide a tool for tribal development based on realistic data that can be used to monitor the key factors that encompass the social, health, environmental, and economic dimensions of quality of lives at the household and community levels of these tribal people.

1 citations