Intervention Study of Oral Health Care and Sweet Intake Behavior of First Grade Elementary Schoolchildren

• Main Authors: Ying-Ying Tsai, 蔡媖媖
• Other Authors: Yi-Shin Yang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/32620800785309922957

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 口腔衛生科學碩士在職專班 === 92 === Background: The three key points in the prevention of dental caries are the use of fluoride, the control of dental plaque, and the restraint of sugar consumption. Currently, there is a comprehensive use of fluoride-containing mouth-rinse among elementary schoolchildren. However, it is generally difficult for first-grade elementary schoolchildren to control the development of dental plaque because they are incapable of performing delicate tooth-brushing skills. Most children cannot resist the temptation of sugar, although they are fully aware of the correlation between sugar consumption and development of dental caries. Therefore, be the ultimate goal that we are aiming for is both satisfying children’s desire for sweets and helping them prevent dental caries from occurring. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to design a set of teaching materials, suitable for junior-grade schoolchildren, on oral health with the aim of changing these children’s sweet consumption habit. The usefulness and success of this teaching material set, along with all relevant influencing factors on children’s oral hygiene behavior, were explored and discussed. Materials and methods: Subjects were first-grade schoolchildren from one elementary school in Taipei County. For classes of students were randomly selected, two classes were assigned to the experimental group and two to the control groups. Combining both groups, there were a total of 132 children (66 in each group) participating throughout the entire study. Research instruments used in this study included: 1) oral health questionnaires (data collection was divided into pre-test, post-test, and post-post-test parts), 2) oral health examinations, and 3) record-taking on both teeth-cleaning and sweets consumption. The major educational intervention proceeded in three stages. The first stage was the regular courses on oral health in a six-week period, with the inclusion of educational design such as the use of story-drawing booklets, picture cards, and games. Teaching materials focused on technical skills, such as tooth brushing, were included. In order to promote learning interests of children, a self-design tooth-brushing computer animation was used. The supplemental materials aimed at enhancing motive for teeth cleaning were added in the third week. In the fourth week, there were experience-sharing and discussions focused on the results of behavioral control on sweets. The entire interventional process was designed on the basis of vividness, happiness, fun, and positive encouragement. Research results: The results demonstrated that children from the experimental group exhibited higher scores of oral hygiene knowledge and behavior on all questionnaires (pre-test, post-test, and post-post-test) than children from the control group. As far as the number of tooth brushings was concerned, they increased from 2.87 to 3.21 times and showed a significant difference (p<0.0001). This was mainly due to the intervention of enhancing supplements to increase the changed scale of tooth-cleaning frequencies in pre-test starting from the third week. On sweets consumption frequency, due to the addition of experience sharing and discussion sections in the fourth week, the number changed from 1.21 to 1.56 times less frequent compared to the previous week’s sweets consumption; furthermore, this frequency number was even at 2.05(±1.19) times less frequent during the post-test. On average, children consumed sweets 0.29(±0.59) times less frequent during the post-test period. Conclusion The study showed that schoolchildren’s oral health knowledge will not be eliminated with the lapse of time, but their sweets consumption habits will decrease due to less urge. Therefore, from the knowledge aspect, it is suggested that the intervention need to be performed by professionals in a stage-wise manner. On the other hand, from the aspect of behavioral changes, the intervention need to be performed by school administrative personnel and class mentors in a persistent manner. This study successfully increased schoolchildren’s tooth-brushing frequency and reduced their sweets consumption frequency during meals by the way of enhancing supplements and experience sharing and discussion. Hence, it is essential to implement enhancing supplements for the intervention on the tooth-brushing behavior of first-grade elementary schoolchildren. From the aspect on the control of sweets consumption, the use of experience sharing and discussion can help schoolchildren to not only increase their tooth brushing frequency while reaching the double goal of win-win situation both enjoying sweets and preventing the occurrence of dental caries.