Effectiveness of oral health educational program on the knowledge and practice of institutionalized orphan children in Alexandria, Egypt.

Abstract

This study aimed to measure dental caries and to evaluate the improvement in the knowledge and practice of Orphan Children after implementing an educational program. This study was an intervention pre-post design that included 80 children, aged 6-12 years. Intervention with an oral health education program was introduced to the orphans. The data was collected at baseline using a questionnaire to collect data about the knowledge, practice, and examination of DMFT (decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth), dft (decayed, filled deciduous teeth), and OHI-S (oral hygiene index-simplified) was done. The knowledge part of the questionnaire was distributed immediately after the intervention. After 6 months, the knowledge, practice, and OHI-S index were determined, the data were then analyzed using Mann-Whitney A U non-parametric test, Wilcoxon matched pair signed rank test, and Fridman's 2-way ANOVA test in SPSS version 25 software. 89% of the children had dental caries, with mean DMFT 2.23±2.1 among males and 3.3±2.3 among females, dft among males was 3.1±2.5 and 3.3±2.1 among females. The mean score of OHI-S significantly decreased after health education intervention from 4.79±1.4 to 0.62±1.0. Mean scores of total knowledge and practice significantly increased after 6 months from 3.4±1.3 to 7.1±1.1 and 1.3±0.9 to 4.9±0.3, respectively. The orphans had moderate DMF and dft, fair knowledge about their oral cavity, poor OHI-S, and practices at baseline. The educational program had succeeded in improving their knowledge and practice.