Application of an oral health prevention program in Mexican elementary schools

[摘要] Introduction:the high prevalence of oral disease among school children has a great impacton their health, hence the need to develop control programs and strategies atpublic policy level. Objective:evaluate the Oral Health Program for Mexican elementary school children. Methods:a community intervention study was conducted in two public elementary schoolsfrom the Ministry of Health in the borough of Tlalpan, Mexico City. The studysample was composed of 111 fifth grade students, 53 from Río Pánucomorning session public school as intervention group with application of theoral health program (work group), and 58 from Ignacio Rodríguez Galvánschool, without intervention (control group). All students were examined todetermine the rate of decay, loss, temporary fillings and permanent teeth, andthe community periodontal index. Inferential statistical analysis was basedon Mann-Whitney U and Pearson's chi-square, with a significance level of 0.05.Data were processed with the statistical software SPSS version 22. Results:mean age was 10.9 at the intervention school and 10.8 at the control school.With respect to the primary dentition index, the average of decayed teeth was0.49 (CI 95 % 0.07-0.91) for the school with the intervention program,and 1.10 (CI 95 % 0.70-1.51) for the school without intervention,with significant statistical differences (p= 0.003). As to the community periodontalindex, 92.4 % of the children were healthy at the school with the interventionprogram, and 70.68 % were healthy at the school without intervention, with asignificant statistical difference (p= 0.003). Conclusions:results show that the program is effective, since the school children intervenedare in better oral health conditions than those in the control group, and thedifference is clinically relevant.

[学科分类] 基础医学

[关键词] school children;educational progra;dental caries;public school.