The Effect of OHE Modified on Children's Oral Health Practice

Objective: Children’s behavior on the maintenance of oral health is still very low. The results of Indonesian National Basic Health Survey  in the year 2007 showed that the prevalence of oral health problems in children aged 6-12 years old was as high as 69%. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of oral health education (OHE) modified with a demonstration method on the oral health practice of school age children. Method: Fifty one school students aged 11 – 12 years old were involved in this study. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire on how they practicing oral health maintenance before and after intervention using OHE with demonstration.  Result: The result showed that the means (± standard deviations) of students’ practice scores before and after intervention was 21.24 (±2.1) and 22.64 (±2.1) respectively.  After using paired t-test, the result showed that students practice score was significantly enhanced after OHE with demonstration (P = 0.0006). Conclusion: The delivery of OHE using demonstration method affects the practice of oral and dental health maintenance in school children.