To examine if practice of oral self-care and met dental treatment needs of children who had community-service (intervention) provided by dental students are better than of children who did not receive this service (control).
Method: Two schools received intervention and four schools served as controls. Children from intervention schools received self-care education provided by third year dental students during their community service rotations. Each child received two 15-20 minute face-to-face sessions of oral self-care education. Need for dental treatment was also assessed and if a child needed dental treatment, he or she received a referral letter to take home and the school staff was notified as well. The children from intervention schools were matched exactly by grade and gender with children from control schools. A total of 468 children from six inner- city elementary Vancouver schools were examined. The outcomes of oral self-care were measures of practice & skills (only for the intervention group), the amount of toothpaste used and brushing time. The treatment needs were assessed visually by a simple dental examination. Oral hygiene was assessed blindly by counting digitally % of disclosed plaque.
Result:
There were no statistically significant differences between the study groups in practice of oral self-care, but the brushing time was significantly longer and proper amounts of toothpaste were more frequently used in the intervention group than in the control group. In both groups, the cleanest were teeth in posterior mandibular areas. There was a statistically significant difference between the practice of oral self-care and acquisition of skills themselves. The unmet treatment needs differed significantly between intervention (2%) and control (29%) groups.
Conclusion: There was no difference between the study groups in practice of oral self-care. The children who received community service brushed their teeth longer and had lower unmet dental treatment needs.