Oral Health Education of Kindergarten Children From Urban School District

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a modified Oral Health Education program taught to Kindergarten students based on the “Open Wide and Trek Inside” curriculum developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The goal of the curriculum was to teach knowledge and skills relating to causes of tooth decay and prevention, the role of the dentist, importance of dental access, and identification/selection of healthy snack foods.

Methods: The pilot tested version of the modified NIH educational curriculum was delivered over a one week period to 12 kindergarten (KG) classrooms in 5 Elementary Schools by trained and calibrated community outreach workers. The KG students were 5 to 6 years of age, 96% African-American, and equal gender distribution. Age appropriate audio and visual aids were utilized in deliverance of the curriculum. A pretest was administered to the students to assess their oral health knowledge and oral hygiene techniques prior to the oral health curriculum. A post-test was used to assess the effectiveness of the program by re-administration of the test after delivery of the completed oral health curriculum. Statistical analysis included frequencies and chi-square test.

Results: A total of 86 students completed the pre and post test. Students recognition of bacteria being harmful increased from 55% to 74% (p-value = 0.00), student compliance in 2min of brushing increased from 55% to 100% (p-value = 0.060). Non-significant increase in knowledge was also observed in recognition of good and bad foods for teeth.

Conclusions: The modified NIH curriculum was effective in improving oral health knowledge and skills of kindergarten children. This study also shows that outreach workers from the community can be trained to deliver oral health education to urban school children. This study was supported by MCHB/HRSA grants R40MC07838, D59HP03623,and Colgate-Palmolive Company.