"Tooth fairy" educational strategy for infants in the fifth year of life

Abstract

Introduction: caries in early childhood is one of the most frequent diseases and can influence the development of the infant. Childhood is a stage characterized by intense learning processes and fundamental in the formation of habits and behaviors in the process of education and human development. It depends on the joint action of teachers, health personnel and legal guardians that infants have access and opportunity to transform health information into knowledge, attitudes and adequate practices that allow them to take care of and protect their health. Objective: to implement the educational strategy "The Tooth Fairy" in infants in the fifth year of life. Methods: a quasi-experimental before-and-after study with a control group was carried out. The sample consisted of 34 infants in the fifth year of life in the Juan Delio Chacón neighborhood, obtained by simple random sampling. Results: before the intervention, a poor level of knowledge about oral health predominated in the infants, representing 70.6% of the experimental group, as well as in the legal guardians and educators for 56.7%, raising it to good after the intervention in 88.2% and 86.66% respectively.Conclusions: the implementation of the strategy in the educational context, involving families, educators and community proved to be effective since it modified lifestyles and lifestyles, also increasing the level of knowledge about oral health of infants, educators and legal guardians.