title: Oral health profile of education and health professionals attending handicapped children.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes toward oral health of education and health professionals working in a children care program for handicapped children from 0 to 6 years of age, run by a public municipal institution in Rio de Janeiro. Using a printed questionnaire, 67 professionals (teachers, attendants and health professionals) were interviewed. The results were compared to the children's oral hygiene habits, by directly observing their daily nursery routine. Although 97.0% said that oral health could play a part in general health, only 37.3% of the professionals answered correctly on this matter. As for methods for preventing caries, although 92.5% said that they were aware of them, only 17.9% went to the dentist for preventive treatment. Although the majority (81.3%) indicated oral hygiene as a way of preventing caries, observation showed that this practice is not always put into effect in the program's day nursery. Regarding when to start toothbrushing in children, 75.0% of the teachers and 94.4% of the health professionals said that they were aware of the need to begin brushing before one year of age, although this reply was given by only 52.5% of the attendants (chi-square, p = 0.006). In view of these results, it was concluded that attitudes toward oral health were not always coherent with the knowledge that these professionals express.
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Public Health-Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pomarico
authors.forename: Ivete Pomarico
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Luiz Fernando
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Tura
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000592:standards; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D004517:Education, Professional / Q000592:standards; D006267:Health Education, Dental / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014099:Toothbrushing