Oral health promotion activities and oral health status of children in day-care centers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of oral health activities provided in day-care centers by analyzing the relationship between oral health activities and oral health status of children.Collected data of 10,116 children in 443 centers in 12 provinces. Chi-square test was used  to analyze  the association between variables. The study found children enrolled at day-care centers were aged 12 up to 76 months; mostly (97.2 %) were aged between 24 to 59 months. Oral examination found 26.3% of children had unclean teeth, 64.3 % affected caries with dmft. 3.8. Otherwise, children with unclean teeth and tooth decay  increased by increasing age. The day-care centers performed activities of tooth-brushing after lunch every day 96.8%, providing fruits as snacks 3-5 days per week 83.4% and all centers provided no sugar added milk.  Moreover, 90.4% of children brushed teeth at home in the morning but some brought snacks such as candy [25.4%], sweetened milk/yoghurt [14.6%] and bottled milk [14.1%] to the centers. Chi-square tests showed children with unclean teeth had more caries (p < .001). The children who did not bring snacks to centers, the children in centers which provided fruits as snacks 3-5 days per week as well as the children who brushed their teeth in the morning had cleaner teeth and got less caries (p < .001). Meanwhile, only oral hygiene of children in centers which performed tooth-brushing after lunch got better (p = .001), but dental caries was not different from the others. In conclusion, this study supported oral health activities provided in day-care center and proposed the action of encouraging parents to provide healthy snack for their children and helping their children brushing teeth at home every day.