Exploratory Study Assessing Oral Health Knowledge Of Teachers In India.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore baseline oral health knowledge of primary school teachers in an urban area of Maharashtra state, India. The objective was to obtain initial data examining suitability of a pre-existing oral health education resource for primary school teachers, created for the Public Health England website www.e-bug.eu.
Methods: Science teachers to 7-11 year olds, from a convenience sample of four schools in Nagpur district, Maharashtra were invited to complete a validated oral health knowledge questionnaire.
Results: All 32 teachers who met the inclusion criteria agreed to participate. Of those who completed questionnaires 81% were aware that bacteria and sugar caused tooth decay yet 72% did not think avoiding sugar would prevent decay, with 75% favouring tooth cleaning and rinsing with water as methods of preventing decay.
84% identified plaque bacteria as a cause for bleeding gums but only half highlighted tooth brushing as prevention. 97% rated the teeth of children in their class as fair or above with 91% judging their pupils required some dental treatment. All stated schoolteachers should teach children how to take care of their teeth, with 94% considering they have sufficient knowledge to do this.
Conclusions: There was a good awareness of the aetiological causes of dental disease yet correct preventive behaviors were not elucidated, indicating a deficit in oral health knowledge. Due to the limited sample these results should be viewed with caution they do however support data from Petersen et al, (WHO). Using the same questionnaire format in an urban area of central China they found only half of teachers had a high knowledge of oral health rising to 94% following oral health education workshops. Recommendation: From this study, it appears advisable that a short fact-based module should be provided for teachers before they go on to teach oral health care to primary school children.