[A three-year evaluation of the effectiveness of the school-based oral health education program]

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.

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.

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).

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.