Experiencia de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes con Discapacidad Visual y el Rol de sus Representantes Respecto a la Salud Bucal

Introduction: visual impairment (VI) presents se-veral challenges and its impact on oral health has not been sufficiently explored in the scientific lite-rature. This study investigates the experiences of children and adolescents (CA) with VI, and their re-presentatives, regarding their oral health practices and knowledge, in order to identify difficulties and better understand their specific needs. Objective: to learn about the experience of chil-dren and adolescents with VI and the role of their representatives regarding oral health. Methodology: a qualitative phenomenological re-search design oriented to content analysis using semi-structured interviews and participant obser-vation was carried out. Ten children and adoles-cents with VI between 6 and 12 years of age were included with their representatives. Chain sampling was used to recruit participants. The analysis was carried out through inductive and deductive co-ding, categorizing a priori knowledge, oral hygie-ne practices and the role of the representatives; as an emerging category, the difficulties experien-ced were analyzed. The Atlas Ti version 23 sof-tware was used to manage and analyze the data collected. Results: in order to learn about the experience of children and adolescents with VI, knowledge, practices and difficulties related to oral care were evaluated. Participants showed basic knowledge about the importance and prevention of oral disea-ses. Regarding practices, variations in brushing frequency and technique were evidenced. Barriers in oral care and lack of adapted products were identified. Mothers were the main caregivers, pla-ying a fundamental role in daily care. Conclusion: differences were identified in rela-tion to oral care knowledge and practices, as well as the difficulties they face in accessing adequa-te information. Representatives play a key role in the maintenance of oral health, although they also showed deficiencies in their knowledge.