Does Providing Story Books to Children Lead to an Improvement in Oral Hygiene in School Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effect of giving tooth brushing storybooks along with verbal oral hygiene (OHI) instructions on plaque levels to schoolchildren. Methodology: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in a private school in Islamabad from October to November 2022. Children in Class V were selected as the Experimental Group I (Storybooks + OHI), while Class IV children were placed in the Control Group II (OHI alone). There were 20 students in each group. Plaque levels were compared at the baseline (before intervention) and after seven days. Tooth brushing practices were recorded at the baseline. Quantitative variables, such as age and mean plaque score were reported as mean and standard deviation. Categorical variables such as gender and tooth brushing frequency were described as frequencies and percentages. Results: The mean age of the children was 9.6 + 1.08 years. A total of 16 (40%) boys and 24 (60%) girls were included in the study. Children in Group II had significantly better self-reported tooth brushing practices with 16 (80%) children brushing twice a day, as compared to 10 (50%) children from Group I (p = 0.041). There was no difference in the reduction in plaque scores between group I (0.14 + 0.21) and group II (0.08 + 0.21; p = 0.382). Conclusion: Giving story books to children is not an effective intervention to improve the oral hygiene status of children, as compared to oral hygiene instructions alone.