A school-based oral health educational program: the experience of Maringa- PR, Brazil

Carlos Alberto Conrado,Sandra Mara Maciel,Márcia Regina Oliveira

doi:10.1590/s1678-77572004000100006

Carlos Alberto Conrado, Sandra Mara Maciel + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-77572004000100006

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Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the preliminary results of a school-based oral health educational strategy adopted in public primary schools from the city of Maringa, State of Parana, Brazil. The study sample was composed by 556 children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years old, 124 schoolteachers and a group of 55 mothers. The educational approach was implemented for 18 months and consisted of reinforcements of interventions addressed to students and schoolteachers at school level and few activities targeted at the mothers, performed by means of home visits. Baseline and follow-up interviews focused on oral health care were undertaken for the entire study population. As a stimulus for the students to achieve proper oral hygiene habits, the simplified oral hygiene index was assessed at three different moments. A statistically significant improvement in their oral hygiene index (p<0.001) was recorded. The results achieved suggest an encouraging tendency towards the improvement in the levels of oral health care among the school-age youths studied. They also point out the need of intensifying the preparation of schoolteachers in oral health topics, as well the instructions to the mothers for their oral health care. Moreover, they highlight the importance of the continuous implementation of school-based programs to promote the oral health.

Highlights

Oral health educational programs have been considered as an important and integral part of many oral health policies for a long time
A statistically significant reduction in the students’ dental plaque scores was reached in the present study, in disagreement with an investigation conducted in Tanzania[20], which showed that a school-based oral health educational program implemented did not result in significant reductions of the plaque scores
This study has arisen from the idea of providing a low-cost and long-term oral health educational program for all public schools of Maringa, in an attempt to replace the short-term programs widely used in Brazil

Summary

Introduction

Oral health educational programs have been considered as an important and integral part of many oral health policies for a long time They tended to focus too much on oral diseases prevention through health enhancement and voluntary changes in behavior as a consequence of learning opportunities[8]. Over the last few years, dentists are gradually becoming aware of the health promotion principles, a new philosophy that emerged opposed to the traditional, dominant, curative and “high-tech” model of health practices. Their strategies aim at reducing differences in the current health status and ensuring equal opportunities and resources to enable all people to achieve their fullest health potential[1].

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