EFFECTIVENESS OF ORAL HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM TO ANGANWADI WORKERS IN IMPROVING THE ORAL HEALTH STATUS AND PRACTICES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN IN AND AROUND MODINAGAR

*Dr. Rafia and Dr. Ashish Singla

ABSTRACT

Background Poor oral health in early childhood is one of the most serious and costly health conditions. Oral health knowledge is considered to be an essential prerequisite for health-related behavior. Anganwadis have played a useful role for developing healthy habits like brushing teeth and hand washing in the anganwadis through non-formal education methods focusing on pre-school children (under six years). This system can support parents and home to sustain the healthy habits acquired in the anganwadis. Aim To study the effectiveness of oral health education program to Anganwadi workers on improving oral health status of preschool children of Modinagar. Materials and Methods In the present study Baseline data was collected regarding Oral health knowledge of Anganwadi workers using questionnaire and Oral hygiene practice and clinical examination of 3-5 year old children attending these centres by using Plaque index and WHO 2013 dentition status. Oral health education programs were given in the anganwadi centres and post intervention data was collected and analyzed using SPSS v20.0 Chi-square test. Results At baseline the oral hygiene practice score was poor for 74.5% of study population. After education it decreased to 1.7%. At baseline, plaque index score was excellent in 12%, good in 58.8%, fair in 25.5% and poor in 3.7% of the study population. After oral health education program, the overall excellent score got increased along with the knowledge of anganwadi workers. Conclusion the present study found that oral health education to anganwadi workers can help improve oral health status of children attending these centres.

Keywords: Anganwadi workers, oral health education, preschool children.