Effectiveness of an integrated handwash and mouthrinse programme on general health of young adolescent school children: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Recently, public attention to the area of personal hygiene has increased for a variety of reasons and one of them is due to the growing awareness that a majority of microbes that cause diseases among humans gain access through various portals of entry and transmitted to these portals mainly through hands. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an integrated handwash and mouthrinse programme on the general health of young adolescent school children's in Puttur taluk. Material and Methods: A single-blinded randomized control trial was designed and conducted among school going young adolescents of Puttur taluk in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. Two schools were randomly included as experimental and control group. Mouth rinsing was integrated to handwashing program for the experimental group. Mouth rinsing program was implemented and monitored for 7 months. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics was performed and paired “t” test was used to compare the difference in means. Results: Mean age of the school children was 12.33 ± 1.3 years, gender ratio of male: female was 0.5:1 and 0.7:1 of case and control groups, respectively. Analysis of oral health and general health parameters of study group and control group at final evaluation revealed modified Oral Hygiene Index Scores significantly reduced in study group from 1.52 ± 0.6 to 1.07 ± 0.5 (P < 0.01), Gingival Index scores significantly reduced in study group from 1.12 ± 0.6 to 0.75 ± 0.5 (P < 0.01). Mean incidence of absentees among study group reduced from 5.16 ± 0.5 to 2.45 ± 0.5 (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Integrating a monitored mouth rinsing to existing handwashing program will not incur additional financial or logistic constraints but may have an effect in improving general health, personal hygiene, and oral health among school children