Effect of Training School Teachers on Oral Hygiene Status of 8-10 Years Old Government School Children of Udaipur City, India.

Abstract

Provision of oral health knowledge to the children by their teachers at the school level can prove to be more fruitful because it is the time period during which the children begin to learn the basic oral hygiene practices and are most prone to dental caries. This study was carried out to assess the effect of training school teachers on oral hygiene status of 8-10 years old government school children of Udaipur city, India. A total of nine school teachers and 279, 8-10 year old school children from two government schools were included in the study. The questionnaire on oral health knowledge and practice contained 17 questions to evaluate the knowledge and practice of children towards oral hygiene before and after the teachers training program. Baseline and six months post training data on oral health knowledge and practice was obtained by the questionnaire method. Baseline and six months post training data on oral hygiene status was obtained by OHI-S Index. Statistical analysis was done using software SPSS 22, the test used were McNemar's test, paired t-test. Pre and post training data were compared and it was found that there was a significant improvement in oral health knowledge and practices of school teachers and children. Also oral hygiene status of school children was significantly improved after the program. Results of the present study suggest that experiential learning is an effective school based oral health education method for improvement of oral hygiene in primary school children.