Abstract

DAVILA, ME  and  MUJICA DE G, M. Application of an educational program about the diseases of the oral cavity and preventive measures to elementary school students. Acta odontol. venez [online]. 2008, vol.46, n.3, pp.250-254. ISSN 0001-6365.

There is an agreement about the importance of measuring in the elementary school population their level of knowledge about oral health, and the impact of educative interventions. Teaching oral health is a sharing responsibility of parents, elementary school teachers, dentists and the rest of the society members involve in the developing of the public health. With the purpose to apply an educational program (EP) about oral diseases and preventive measures, the level of knowledge (LK) of elementary school students was determine. Materials y methods: A quasiexperimental investigation was conducted before and after the application of the EP. Eighty five (85) of the students between 6 and 10 years of age of the first and second grade, conformed the study population. Sixty six school children who were at the school at the beginning of the investigation were interviewed. In successive sessions an EP was applied to measure the LK about oral health and prevention of oral diseases. Results: Before the application of the EP, the LK about oral diseases was "bad" 68% and 14% was "good" varying to 32% and 66%, respectively after the application of the program. The LK about preventive measures varied from "regular" (74%) before applying PE to 50% after its application. When comparing the LK before and after means, a statistically significant difference was observed (p=0.001). Conclusions: There is a need to implement and fortify educational programs in the school children with the purpose to improve their quality of life and to modify habits. This investigation was sponsored by FONACIT code PEM-2001002145 and the direction of extension-UCLA code EU-MD-009-2005-2006.

Keywords : Educational programa; oral cavity diseases; oral health.