| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 58
| Issue : 4 | Page : 235-240 |
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Oral health promotion among rural school children through teachers: an interventional study
Byalakere Rudraiah Chandrashekar1, Shankarappa Suma2, Jagadeeswara Rao Sukhabogi3, Bhadravathi Cheluvaiah Manjunath4, Amitabh Kallury5
1 Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, Bhanpur, Bhopal, India
2 Senior Lecturer, Department of Orthodontics, People's Dental Academy, Bhanpur, Bhopal, India
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Government Dental College and Hospital, Hyderabad, India
4 Senior Professor and Head, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, PGIMS Campus, Pt. BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India
5 Professor and Head, Department of Orthodontics, People's Dental Academy, Bhanpur, Bhopal, India
Correspondence Address:
Byalakere Rudraiah Chandrashekar
Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, Bhanpur, Bhopal - 462 037, Madhya Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0019-557X.146278
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Background: The lack of national oral health policy and organized school dental health programs in the country call for affordable, accessible, and sustainable strategies. Objectives: The objective was to compare the oral hygiene, plaque, gingival, and dental caries status among rural children receiving dental health education by qualified dentists and school teachers with and without supply of oral hygiene aids. Materials and Methods: This interventional study was conducted among 15-year-old children selected randomly from four schools in Nalgonda district between September 2009 and February 2010. Schools were divided into four different intervention groups. The intervention groups varied in the form of intervention provider and frequency of intervention one of which being the control group. The oral hygiene, plaque, gingival, and dental caries status was assessed at baseline and 6 months following the intervention. SPSS 16 was used for analysis. Results: The preintervention and postintervention comparison within each group revealed a substantial reduction in mean oral hygiene index-simplified (OHI-S), plaque index (PI), and gingival index (GI) at postintervention compared to baseline in group 4 (1.26, 0.87, and 0.74, respectively) followed by group 3 (0.14, 0.37, and 0.12, respectively). The OHI-S, PI, and GI scores increased in group 1 (0.66, 0.37, and 0.34, respectively) and group 2 (0.25, 0.19, and 0.14, respectively). Mean decayed, missing filled surfaces score between the groups was not statistically significant at baseline and postintervention. Conclusion: The dramatic reductions in the OHI-S, PI, and GI scores in the group supplied with oral hygiene aids call for supplying low cost fluoridated toothpastes along with toothbrushes through the school systems in rural areas. |
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