Oral Health Promotion Activities and Oral Health Status of Children in Child Care Centers, Chumphon Province

Abstract

This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study that had an objective to evaluate the effects of oral health promotion activities provided in child care centers by analyzing the relationships between oral health promotion activities and oral health behaviors with oral health status of children. The samples were children aged 3 years old in child care centers in Chumphon Province. The secondary data were collected from oral health surveillance and risk factor reports. The descriptive statistics were used and the relationships were tested by using Chi-square test. The results showed that 17.1% of children had unclean teeth, 51.3% had dental caries, with dmft score of 2.6 teeth per child. The child care centers implemented an after lunch tooth brushing program (96.2% of the centers), all centers provided fruit 3-5 days per week and provided plain milk. Oral examination to children by child care givers covered 44.2% of the centers and by dental personnel 96.2%. Moreover, 88.7% of children brushed their teeth at home in the morning but some brought sweetened milk or yoghurt (6.7%), bottle milk (4.1%) and snacks (7.3%) to the centers. Chi-square test showed that after lunch tooth brushing activity, oral examination by dental personnel and morning tooth brushing behavior were significantly related to oral hygiene of children; and behaviors of bringing sweetened milk or yoghurt to centers were significantly associated with the prevalence of dental caries. In conclusion, this study supported after lunch tooth brushing and oral examination by dental personnel activities provided in child care centers which improved oral hygiene of children and motivate their tooth brushing practices.