ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the various major sources of Oral Health Education (OHE) for primary school teachers in Rungwe District, Mbeya Region, Tanzania. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using a self-administered close-ended questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 232 rural and urban in-service primary school teachers and 195 final-year-teacher trainees at college. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Socio-demographic factors, common teachers' OHE sources, common sources of OHE teaching aides, and teachers' previous OHE training opportunity. RESULTS: Textbooks and a dental clinic were found to be the most common sources of OHE for a large proportion of in-service and trainee teachers, while neighbours and a teachers' college were reported by a smaller proportion. The District Dental Officer was the only significant source of oral health education teaching materials in this study. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: While primary schoolteachers' sources for oral health education information was mainly textbooks and from a dental clinic, the source of teaching materials was largely a District Dental Officer. Details on the particular sources were not sought and further studies are therefore required. However, the findings highlight a need for standardised and equally distributed oral health material sources both for valid information and for teaching in schools.
