A survey of the gingival health of Indo‐Chinese child refugees. Part I

Abstract The gingival health of 230 Indo‐Chinese children aged between five and twelve years was assessed after a period of resettlement in Australia ranging between one and eight years. In the preceding twelve months, all children had participated in at least one complete course of dental treatment which had included a prophylaxis and oral hygiene instruction. Comparison with a group of Australian children of a similar socio‐economic rating revealed a higher prevalence of gingival bleeding on probing in refugee children of all ages. Sixty‐two per cent of the Indo‐Chinese children in the study group had eleven or more sites of gingival bleeding, as opposed to twenty‐four per cent of the control group who were similarly affected. The similar experience of plaque for the Indo‐Chinese and Australian children in the older age groups would indicate the adoption of some oral hygiene practices by the older refugee children. In contrast, the prevalence and severity of calculus formation seen in these children was far in excess of that seen in the Australian children. Subgingival calculus was a common clinical finding for Indo‐Chinese children of all ages.