title: Improving oral health status of preschool children using motivational interviewing method.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral diseases are common chronic diseases that are affected by human health behavior. One-way to promote health behaviors can be achieved through education. The present study aims to assess the effect of an oral health education program using motivational interviewing (MI) method on oral health status of preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study recruited 222 volunteer children and their parents from 10 elementary schools into a community trial. At baseline, plaque, gingival and decayed, missing, and filled teeth indexes were measured in the children. They were randomly allocated into test groups where they and their parents received oral health education using MI and the control group received traditional oral health education. The test group had recall and postal reminder during 6 months of the study, but there was no reminder for the control group. After 6 months, the same oral health indexes were measured. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) by t-test, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon signed ranks test. P < 0.05 was considered as significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that after both oral health education programs, differences of plaque index (PI) (P = 0.000) and gingival index (P = 0.000) were significant between the two groups. The number of children with healthy gingiva and low PI were more frequent in the test group after intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Considering the limitations of this study, oral health status of children after education of parents using MI was observed, and it should be considered in oral health education programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Public Health, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Tayebeh Malek
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Public Health, Oral and Dental Disease Research Center, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Abolghasem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hajizamani
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Public Health, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bozorgmehr
keywords: Iran; education; motivational interviewing; oral education; preschool children