by
Maria Lourdes E. Cantor, MDE, EdD
Abstract
Oral health is the backbone of the oral health of a nation. It is important to maintain the sound oral health of the community members, especially the pre-schoolers. It was the major purpose of this study to determine the effectiveness of oral health education activities conducted by the community dentistry students of the School of Dentistry, University of Baguio. This study used the descriptive research design. It looked into the oral health profile of 66 daycare learners aged three to five years old, enrolled in Middle Quezon Hill and Upper Quezon Hill Daycare Centers during SY 2013-2014. The oral health profile focused on caries experience, oral hygiene performance, and caries risk index. Based on the existing records that were evaluated, the pre-assessment oral health status of the preschoolers on caries experience is moderate; their oral hygiene performance is fair to good, and their caries risk is high. This indicates that at the start of the dental education program, the preschoolers were in need of a functional dental health education for caries prevention, more intensified oral hygiene practice, and lower vulnerability or risk in caries occurrence. The post-assessment oral health status of the preschoolers on caries experience show a moderate level of caries experience, good level of oral hygiene performance, and moderate caries risk index. These indicate considerable improvement from their pre- assessment to the post-assessment oral health status. The comparison of pre-assessment and post-assessment of oral health status of the preschoolers reflects marked, positive improvement as far as oral health is concerned. This result attests to the overall effectiveness of the oral health education intervention program conducted by the students of community dentistry of the University of Baguio.
Key words: Oral health education, oral health profile, oral health status, community dentistry students, preschoolers
| Published October 23, 2018 |
Issue UB RJ Vol. XL, No. 1 2016 |
Source: UB Research Journal, Vol. XL, No. 1 2016
