The effect of oral health education on the oral health KAP of rural pupils

Objective: To evaluate the effect of oral health education among pupils in rural areas. Methods: A questionnaire survey of KAP and oral examination were conducted among 255 pupils of primary school(grade 3-grade 5) in rural area of Hu County, Shaanxi Province. Then they were divided into experiment(n = 125) and control group (n = 100). As component and primary oral health care, a package and oral health education (KAP) was applied to the test group and without any intervention to the control group. Results: It was found that the main index attitude and behavior(the correct answer rate of knowledge towards oral health care, dental plaque index) were the significant difference between the experiment group and control group, 67.56% and 32.43% (P<0.01) in the knowledge and 1.1382±0.4862 and 1.7227±0.8007(P<0.01) in the dental plaque index, respectively. Conclusion: The knowledge, attitude and behavior of pupils in the countryside significantly changed after oral health education program. Therefore, oral health education is an effective approach to improve oral knowledge (KAP) among pupils in the countryside.