INTRODUCTION:

‘Dental problems are never any fun, but the good news is that most of them can be easily prevented’¹.

Indian population consists of people from different cultural backgrounds and there is a very strong influence of the various belief, myths, and misconceptions on health seeking behavior in our population, culture, religious, social, personal habits and practices cause dispanities oral and general health but also affect oral or general health.

Brushing our teeth is an important part of our dental care routine. For a healthy mouth and smile the ADA (American Dental Association), recommends brush your teeth twice a day, with a soft bristled brush, the size and shape of your brush should fit your mouth following you to reach all area easily. Replace your tooth brush every three or four months, or sooner if the bristles are frayed a warm toothbrush won’t do good job of cleaning your teeth, make sure to use an ADA (American Dental Association) specified fluoride tooth paste.

Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping one's mouth clean and free of disease and other problems (e.g. bad breath) by regular brushing of the teeth (dental hygiene) and cleaning between the teeth. It is important that oral hygiene be carried out on a regular basis to enable prevention of dental disease and bad breath. The most common types of dental disease are tooth decay (cavities, dental caries) and gum diseases, including gingivitis, and periodontitis².

A new nationwide survey conducted by the Indian Dental Association (IDA) shows that 70% of children under the age of 15 suffer from gum problem. The most common dental problem of concern in school going children is dental carries, the reported prevalence of dental carries in 6 years old children in Karnataka is 57.20% dental plaque is considered as the possible causative agent of the major dental disease such as carries and periodontal disease.

Vitamin A, deficiency of vitamin A leads to impaired epithelial cells, which are responsible for secreting calcium, phosphate, fluoride, magnesium and carbohydrate.

Care of the mouth is an important nursing procedure and should be performed as part of the routine hygiene of a patient, nurse play an important role in providing effective brushing technique and promoting oral hygiene. However, oral hygiene has often been overlooked by health care workers and performed on an ado basis. In some instances it has becomes a ritualistic activity³.

Brushing the clean the food particles, plaque and bacteria, in also consist of massaging the gums to relieve discomfort and unpleasant odor taste, proper oral hygiene enhance well-being comfort and stimulated the appetite.

Tooth brushing habits and knowledge among patient; many individuals are not good in controlling plague scour when they brush their teeth. “It also observed that in those motivated subjected who were willing to spare time for improving oral hygiene, manual tooth brushing is effectiveness is controlling plaque biofilm and thus periodontal disease”.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

The present study aims to determine the “Effectiveness of structured teaching program on knowledge and practices regarding dental hygiene among schooler children of selected school’s”.

Research design is the overall plan for answering the research questions or testing the research hypothesis. Research design is the backbone or the structure of the study. It provides a framework that support the study and hold it together Polit and Hungler started that a research design incorporated the most important methodological design that a researcher makes in conducting a research study. Pre-experimental design, pre and post-test without control group was used for the present study to determine the effectiveness of structured teaching program on knowledge and practices regarding dental hygiene among schooler children of selected school. Pre-experimental one group pre and post-test design was adopted. The design choose for the study is presented in figure

One group pre-test post-test design

Group

Pre-test

Intervention

Post-test

Experimental group

Structured teaching program on knowledge and practices regarding dental hygiene among schooler children of selected schools.

Implementation of planned health teaching program

Structured teaching program on knowledge and practices regarding dental hygiene among schooler children of selected schools.

The present study conducted on Municipal Corporation school 5^th to 7^th standard students. In this study used convenient sampling technique and 100 samples.

RESULTS:

A total of 100 children participated in the study

Finding related to demographic variables:

According to age of children, in the study most of them 60% were between 9-10 years of age group, 28% were 13-14 years of age, 12% between 11-12 years and no one from 8-9 years of age group

According to gender of the children, in the study most of them 53% were female and 47% male children

According to education of father, in the study, 12% were in the illiterate group, 49% were educated up to secondary school, and 28% were educated up to higher secondary and remaining 11% educated up to graduation and above

According to education of mother, in the study, 16% were in the illiterate group, 55% were educated up to secondary school, and 21% were educated up to higher secondary and remaining 8% educated up to graduation and above

According to number of siblings, in the study most children had 3 or more siblings, 33% with 2 siblings, 18% with two and 13% had only one sibling

Finding related to knowledge:

For the assessment of knowledge regarding dental hygiene among school going children, the score of the pre-test % post-test was divided in to three groups like poor (score 0-6), average (score 7-13), and good (score 14 and above).

At the time of pre-test, 76% children were having average knowledge, 24% children were having good knowledge and no one in the poor knowledge group. Average knowledge score at the time of pre-test was 12.45

At the time of post-test, 6% children were having average knowledge, 94% children were having good knowledge and no one in the poor knowledge group. Average knowledge score at the time of post-test was 16.65

Finding related to practices:

For the assessment of practices regarding dental hygiene among school going children, the score of the pre-test % post-test was divided in to three groups like poor (score 0-4), average (score 5-7), and good (score 8 and above).

At the time of pre-test, 76% children were in the poor practice group, 24% were in average practice group and no one in the poor practice group. Average practices score at the time of pre-test was 4.48

At the time of post-test, 20% children were in the poor practice group, 80% were in average practice group and no one in the poor practice group. Average practices score at the time of post-test was 7.36

Finding related to comparison of the pre and post-test knowledge:

Comparison of the pre and post-test average score of the knowledge regarding dental hygiene among school going children, were done by the paired t test

The pre-test average score was 12.45 with standard deviation of 1.01. The post- test average score was 16.62 with standard deviation of 1.97. The test statistic value of the paired t test was 19.73 with p value 0.00

Here, the p value of the test was less than 0.05, shows the significance difference in the average knowledge scores in pre and post- test. That means the average knowledge score in the post test was significantly increased than the pre-test average score.

Conclude, that structured teaching program on knowledge regarding dental hygiene among school going children was effective.

Finding related to comparison of the pre and post-test practices:

Pre-test average score was 4.48 with standard deviation of 0.85. The post- test average score was 7.36 with standard deviation of 1.02. The test statistic value of the paired t test was 20.54 with p value 0.00

Here, the p value of the test was less than 0.05, shows the significance difference in the average practices scores in pre and post- test. That means the average practices score in the post test was significantly increased than the pre-test average score.

Conclude, that structured teaching program on practices regarding dental hygiene among school going children was effective.

Association of knowledge with demographic variables:

For the variables like age, education of father and education of mother, the p value of the association test with knowledge was less than 0.05. Conclude that, there was significant association of these variables with knowledge of school children regarding dental hygiene.

For the variables like gender, father occupation and number of sibling, the p value of the association test with knowledge was less than 0.05. Conclude that, there was significant association of these variables with knowledge of school children regarding dental hygiene.

Association of practices with demographic variables:

For the variables like age, education of father and education of mother, the p value of the association test with practices was less than 0.05. Conclude that, there was significant association of these variables with practices of school children regarding dental hygiene.

For the variables like gender, father occupation and number of sibling, the p value of the association test with practices was less than 0.05. Conclude that, there was significant association of these variables with practices of school children regarding dental hygiene.

CONCLUSION:

On conducting this research and analysing the collected data, it can be concluded that samples have the basic knowledge related to the meaning of oral hygiene, purpose of brushing, brushing techniques and common problems of oral cavity.

When comparing the selected demographic variables (age, gender, level of education of mother’s and fathers) and background variable (dental visit, oral problem, brand of toothpaste and frequency of teeth brushing) with knowledge of practice score was found to be significant.

REFERENCES:

1. Tammy Davenport, What Are the Most Common Dental Problems? July 11, 2019 available from https://www.verywellhealth.com/top-common-dental-problems-1059461

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_hygiene

3. Kerala Nursing Forum Journal, Vol 2, No-1, Jan-March, (2007), P-32

4. Dr. Vidya Rattan, Handbook of Preventive and Social Medicine Community Publisher, New Delhi, 1994, P-255

5. Allender Spradley, Williams and Wilkins, Community Health Nursing Promoting and Projecting The Public Health, 6^th edition, Lippincott compolny, 2005, P-630,652

6. West India Medical Journal, Dental Caries Status and Treatment Need of Children, (2007), Jan; Vol-56, No-1

7. K Park, Essential of Community Health Nursing, 3^rd edition, M/s Banarsidas Bhanot Publishers, 2000, P-32

8. Marry A Nies, Melanie Mc Ewen, Community Health Nursing Promoting The Health of Population, 3^rd edition, Saunders Company, 2007, P-709

9. Dorothy Marlow Et Al, Textbook of Pediatrics Nursing, 6 edition, WB Saunders Company, Elsevier Science, (2002), P-1026

10. Mamta Hebbal, Ramesh Nagarajappa, Journal of Dental Education, American Dental Education Association, (2005), P-382-386

Received on 25.07.2019 Modified on 18.08.2019

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2019; 7(4): 577-580.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2019.00128.5