Syed Emdadul Haque|Mosiur Rahman|Kawashima Itsuko|Mahmuda Mutahara|Kayako Sakisaka|Atsuro Tsutsumi|Md. Jahirul Islam|Md. Golam Mostofa
Effect of a school-based oral health education in preventing untreated dental caries and increasing knowledge, attitude, and practices among adolescents in Bangladesh
University of Chicago Research Bangladesh|Tokyo Medical and Dental University|Honjo International Scholarship Foundation|Wageningen University & Research|Chuo University|United Nations University-International Institute for Global Health|University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre|Griffith University|University of Rajshahi
dearth published literature demonstrates impact effectiveness schoolbased oral health education ohe program bangladesh one neglected activities field public health keeping mind objectives study assess effectiveness ohe program 1 increasing oral health knowledge attitude practices 2 decreasing prevalence untreated dental caries among 68 grade school students bangladeshthis intervention study conducted araihazar thana narayanganj district bangladesh april 2012 march 2013 total participants 944 students three local schools baseline students assessed oral health knowledge attitude practices using selfadministered structured questionnaire untreated dental caries assessed using clinical examination follow study done 6 months baseline mcnemars chisquare analysis used evaluate impact ohe program four recurrent themes oral health baseline followup multiple logistic regression analyses used determine impact intervention group outcome variablessignificant improvement observed regarding school aged adolescents selfreported higher knowledge attitude practices scores p 0001 followup compared baseline prevalence untreated dental caries study population ohe program significantly p 001 reduced 425 multiple logistic regression analyses showed ohe intervention remained significant predictor reducing risk untreated dental caries adjusted odds ratio aor 051 95 confidence interval ci 037 081 followup period participants 221 times 95 ci 187 345 likely higher level knowledge regarding oral health compared baseline compared baseline participants followup 189 times 95 ci 144287 likely higher attitude towards oral health addition ohe intervention found significantly associated higher level practices toward oral health aor 164 95 ci 112 338this study indicated ohe intervention effective increasing knowledge ii attitude iii practices towards oral health also significantly reduced prevalence untreated dental caries among school aged adolescents grade 68 deprived rural area bangladesh