A plaque control program at the sixth grade level

Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-64)Conventional methods of dental health instruction, which rely on lectures or films, have not been effective in changing the dental health behavior of the nation's school children. For this reason, this study was designed to compare conventional methods with a new approach to dental health education, which includes the use of actual toothbrushing in the classroom, to determine whether one method provides more desirable results than the other. In the study four groups were used. The first group, the control, received no treatment, the second and third classroom groups were exposed to two types of conventional instruction, and a fourth group received a conventional approach followed by preventive techniques which included daily classroom brushing for one month. It was found that the brushing group had significantly lower levels of plaque accumulation and gum inflammation than the others, thereby indicating that the actual classroom practice of desired skills was the key factor which caused the significant difference in oral hygiene scores among the classroom groups. Further confirmation of the role of supervised brushing in reduction of plaque accumulation and gum inflammation occurred. When sixteen students, who had received low oral hygiene scores in a dental screening, participated in a two-week brushing program which resulted insignificantly improved scores. The study also appeared to agree with the observation that girls brush more effectively than boys. However, when both had the opportunity to practice brushing in the classroom, there was no significant difference in their scores. The findings of this study indicate that the schools. if they are to serve their communities' diverse needs, must provide practice time for health oriented skills such as dental hygiene techniques, just as they do with math and reading skills, to help integrate desired habits into each child's life pattern