RESUMO
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.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: There is a lot of information available about various oral hygiene aids used for the maintenance of oral hygiene and the prevention of oral diseases but the reason why people choose a particular product is under-reported. This study sought to assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of choosing oral hygiene aids among students of management institutes in Ghaziabad, India. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in five management institutes selected by simple random sampling and data were collected from 1224 students by self-administered structured validated questionnaire. RESULTS: The study showed that toothbrush (96.8%) and toothpaste (95.2%) were the main products used for the maintenance of oral hygiene. The most commonly used brand dentifrices were Colgate and Close-Up (47%, 23.3%) and in toothbrush, Oral B and Colgate (48.4%, 30.9%), respectively. A particular brand of toothpaste was preferred by 66.4% of the subjects because of childhood and parental use, which was the most influential factor (56.9%). Bristle design was the main criterion for choosing a toothbrush (44.9%), followed by bristle consistency (33.1%). The most commonly used toothbrushes were of soft bristle consistency (51.2%) and 10.9% of the subjects did not know the type ofbristle consistency present in their toothbrush. CONCLUSION: Selection of oral hygiene products was based more on parental influence and there seems to be a lack of knowledge and awareness about how to choose a dentifrice and toothbrush.
OBJETIVO: Hay mucha información disponible sobre diferentes elementos auxiliares usados para el mantenimiento de la higiene oral y la prevención de enfermedades orales, pero las razones por las cuales la gente elige tal o cual producto en particular, no son reportadas en la misma medida. Este estudio buscó evaluar los conocimientos, actitudes y comportamientos a la hora de elegir los elementos auxiliares para la higiene bucodental entre los estudiantes de los institutos de administración en Ghaziabad, India. MÉTODO: Se realizó una encuesta transversal en cinco institutos de administración seleccionados por muestreo aleatorio simple, y se obtuvieron datos de 1224 estudiantes mediante un cuestionario validado estructurado auto-administrado. RESULTADOS: El estudio mostró que el cepillo de dientes (96.8%) y la pasta de dientes (95.2%) eran los principales productos utilizados para el mantenimiento de la higiene oral. Las marcas dentífricas más comúnmente utilizadas fueron Colgate y Close-Up (47%, 23.3%), y en los cepillos de dientes, Oral By Colgate (48.4%, 30.9%) respectivamente. Una marca particular de pasta de dientes era preferida por 66.4% de los sujetos debido al uso por parte de padres y niños, lo que resultó ser el factor más influyente (56.9%). El diseño de las cerdas fue el principal criterio para elegir un cepillo de dientes (44.9%), seguido por la consistencia de las cerdas (33.1%). Los cepillos de dientes más comúnmente usados fueron los de cerdas de consistencia suave (51.2%) y 10.9% de los sujetos no sabían el tipo de consistencia de las cerdas de su cepillo de dientes. CONCLUSIÓN: La selección de productos de higiene oral se basaba más en la influencia de los padres, y parece que hay una falta de conocimiento y conciencia sobre cómo elegir el dentífrico y el cepillo de dientes.