The effectiveness of different methods of teaching dental health on the incidence of plaque and gingivitis

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various methods of delivery of dental health education. A sample of(223) secondary school students in Mosul City were randomly allocated to one of the following modes of dental health education: Professional instruction(by the dentist), self-educational manual(by a booklet) and audio-visual method(by video film), in addition to a control group where no dental health education was given. Three clinical dental examinations were carried out to evaluate the presence of dental plaque and gingival health, one prior to the programme(baseline examination) are two examinations following the programme at six weeks and three months later to the baseline examination.The results indicated a very high significant reduction in the plaque and gingival index scores for the three experimental groups,which was maintained on these low levels three months after the baseline examination.The results were achieved with a minimum of time, cost and personals, and do confirm the effectiveness of dental health education alone in improving gingival health. Therefore, these methods seem to be highly valuable and efficient for teaching dental health to the students in Iraqi schools.