An evaluation of the effectiveness of dental health training administered at a health services school

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and behaviour of health technician students to determine their oral health (OH) status, and to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured education administered for increasing OH awareness. Interventional research was performed between December 2018 and March 2019 on 445 Vocational School of Health Services students in … University. Questionnaires were conducted under observation. The first questionnaire (Q1) included socio-demographic characteristics, OH knowledge level, attitudes and behaviours. One month after the OH training was given to the students, the same questions in Q1 were asked again in the second questionnaire (Q2). Dental caries and Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) status were determined by a dentist via a clinical oral examination. Of the 445 students, 416 (93.5%) participated in the study and completed the Q1 and Q2 questionnaires. A total of 277 (66.6%) students were female and 139 (33.4%) were male, with the age range being 17-33years (average: 19.2±1.86years). Of the 416 students who answered the Q1 and Q2 questionnaires, 385 received oral examinations. While the Q1 knowledge score was 7.06±2.08, the Q2 was found to be 12.36±2.90 (P<.001). It was seen that 119 (30.9%) students who had poor OHI-S and 120 (31.2%), had a mean number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) value of 6 and above. It was found that the females had better OH values ​​than males (P<.001) and smokers had worse OH values overall (P<.016). It was observed that the health technician students had a low level of knowledge about OH before the training but after receiving the training, their knowledge, attitude and behaviour changed positively. SO WHAT?: It was concluded that the OH education given to students caused a positive change in their behaviour, attitude and knowledge.