Oral Health Promotion among Rural School Children through Teachers: An Interventional Study.

Background: The lack of national oral health policy and organized school dental health programs in the country call for affordable, accessible, and sustainable strategies. Objectives: The objective was to compare the oral hygiene, plaque, gingival, and dental caries status among rural children receiving dental health education by qualifi ed dentists and school teachers with and without supply of oral hygiene aids. Materials and Methods: This interventional study was conducted among 15-year-old children selected randomly from four schools in Nalgonda district between September 2009 and February 2010. Schools were divided into four different intervention groups. The intervention groups varied in the form of intervention provider and frequency of intervention one of which being the control group. The oral hygiene, plaque, gingival, and dental caries status was assessed at baseline and 6 months following the intervention. SPSS 16 was used for analysis. Results: The preintervention and postintervention comparison within each group revealed a substantial reduction in mean oral hygiene index-simplifi ed (OHI-S), plaque index (PI), and gingival index (GI) at postintervention compared to baseline in group 4 (1.26, 0.87, and 0.74, respectively) followed by group 3 (0.14, 0.37, and 0.12, respectively). The OHI-S, PI, and GI scores increased in group 1 (0.66, 0.37, and 0.34, respectively) and group 2 (0.25, 0.19, and 0.14, respectively). Mean decayed, missing fi lled surfaces score between the groups was not statistically signifi cant at baseline and postintervention. Conclusion: The dramatic reductions in the OHI-S, PI, and GI scores in the group supplied with oral hygiene aids call for supplying low cost fl uoridated toothpastes along with toothbrushes through the school systems in rural areas.

Malocclusion status among 15 years old adolescents in relation to fluoride concentration and area of residence.

Objectives: To compare the overall dental aesthetic index scores between rural and urban areas, males and females, and to correlate dental aesthetic index score with fluoride concentration in drinking water. Settings and Design: The study was cross sectional and conducted among 15 year old adolescents in the rural and urban areas of Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India (an endemic fluoride belt). Materials and Methods: Six out of 59 mandals in Nalgonda district were first selected by simple random sampling technique. Then 24 secondary schools were selected from these six selected mandals. All eligible grade X children from these sixteen rural and eight urban schools, having different fluoride concentrations in drinking water, selected by simple random sampling, were considered for the study. Dentofacial anomalies with criteria of dental aesthetic index were used for assessing malocclusion. The information on the dietary habits, orthodontic treatment history, parafunctional habits, continuous residence etc., was collected using a pre-designed questionnaire. The examination was carried out by three trained and calibrated dentists. The Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) scores, in areas with below optimal, optimal and above optimal fluoride concentrations, between urban and rural areas were compared and analyzed using SPSS windows version 16. Results: The mean DAI scores, for the rural and urban population were 21.37 ± 5.845 (mean ± SD) and 22.26 ± 6.115, for males and females, it was 20.86 ± 5.100 and 22.70 ± 6.713 respectively. The mean DAI scores in areas with below optimal, optimal and above optimal fluoride concentration were 23.42 ± 7.205 (mean ± SD), 20.85 ± 4.658 and 19.93 ± 4.312 respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence and severity of malocclusion was more in urban than rural areas, more among females than males, and it decreased with increasing concentration of fluoride in drinking water.