[A three-year evaluation of the effectiveness of the school-based oral health education program].
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral health outcomes of a school-based oral health education (OHE) programme on children, mothers and school teachers.


METHODS
The WHO Health Promoting Schools Project was applied to primary schoolchildren in 3 experimental and 3 control schools in Hongshan District, Wuhan City, with a 3-year follow-up. The data were analyzed by means of the SPSS/PC+ system. Differences in changes over-time between the two groups were compared using the independent samples t test for mean scores as the clinical variables while Chi-square test was applied for categorical variables.


RESULTS
The f/F components were higher among children in the experimental group than in the control group (P < 0.01) and the gingival bleeding score was significantly lower. The increase in the proportion of children with toothbrushing at least twice a day was about 26% for the experimental group and 19% for the control group (P < 0.05); dental visits within the previous year grew higher among the experimental group than in the control group (P < 0.01). The proportion of mothers who cleaned their child's teeth weekly was significantly higher for the experimental group as compared to the control group (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggested that school-based OHE had positive effects on gingival bleeding score and oral health behaviour in children, and as well as oral health knowledge and attitudes in mothers and teachers.
Tai
Bao-jun
BJ
Department of Preventive Dentistry, School of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Hubei Province, China. hbcoh@public.wh.hb.cn
Jiang
Han
H
Du
Min-quan
MQ
Huang
Wei
W
Guo
Ying
Y
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000193:education*; D010512:Periodontal Index; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012574:Schools; D014099:Toothbrushing