Evaluation of oral health knowledge retention among children of various age groups by applying different tools of teaching

Relevance of the problem: The continuing high prevalence of dental caries on a national level in Lithuania and worldwide signals that more attention should be paid to oral disease prevention, especially at an early age. In order to accelerate the positive dental care changes, and improve overall oral health, it is of vital importance to understand how children retain such knowledge most effectively. The aim of this research project is to compare how well children retain knowledge and information about oral health care and hygiene by using different methods of teaching Material and methods: The two focus groups (children aged 9-11 and 13-15 respectively) were randomly selected from local schools in Kaunas and subsequently divided by teaching method, i.e. e-learning and group lecture. Groups were asked to use questionnaires in order to assess the level of knowledge they had prior to the teaching about oral health care and after the exposure to information. Results: both teaching methods proved to be effective. An overall improvement in understanding was observed, where graded understanding increased form 6.90 to 7.91 on a scale of 1 to 10 (p<0.05). Significant difference of teaching method effectiveness was observed in different age groups: children aged 9 – 11 showed better results after e-learning, while children aged 13 – 15 demonstrated a better understanding after traditional lecture. Female students showed better knowledge retention than male students (score difference 0,50; p