RESUMEN
Background: According to the National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology, over 90% of the Vietnamese population has dental diseases in 2001. Although school dental care programs were developed in the early 1980s, the prevalence of dental diseases still remains high in pupils. In Ha Noi, the majority of schools performed only two or three of the four contents of the school dental care program. Objectives: To assess the school dental care services at four primary schools in Ha Noi. Subjects and method: A study was performed on the schools management staffs, teachers, school health workers and 1st year pupils of four primary schools in Ha Noi in the period from October 2004 to April 2006. There were 181 first year pupils. This was a community intervention study. Results and conclusions: The dental education program was in the 1st grade schoolbook. The schools did not directly treat dental diseases for pupils because they lacked the equipments, dental medicine and dentists. All 100% of the pupils were educated about dental hygiene After implementing the interventions of the pilot model of the school dental care services; the knowledge of dental care was improved dramatically in all the mentioned schools. The prevalence of dental caries decreased from 54.14% to 42.77%. 82.77% of the pupils possessed the knowledge of dental care after intervention vs 41.44% before intervention and 75% vs 33.56% possessed the skill of dental care practice.