44 Journal of Public Health Dentistry EVALUATION OF DENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION IN A SCHOOL DENTAL CARE PROGRAM

Dental health educational activities are frequent components of school dental care programs, but their effectiveness has seldom been evaluated. In this report, one method for evaluating these activities is presented and the validity of results discussed in the context of the constraints inherent in the nonexperimental design. Background to the study Dental health education is part of the curriculum in many school systems around the The rationale is that prevention is the key to controlling dental disease, that caries and periodontal disease are largely preventable through personal behavior, and that the educational environment of the school is the logical place to teach dental health practices which will result in better dental health for today’s children and tomorrow’s adults.e.6 The benefits that materialize from these efforts, however, are difficult to substantiate. In their comprehensive review published in 1971, Rayner and CohenZs described the equivocal nature of results from studies to that time. Since that review, some studies have reported improvements in oral hygiene followin