The impact of a school-based tooth-brushing program on dental caries: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundPromotion of oral health in children is recognized as one of the components of health-promoting schools (HPSs). However, few studies have addressed supportive school environments for children’s oral health. This study aimed to evaluate the status of dental caries in school children at HPSs, with the objective of examining the impact of a supportive school environment for oral health, considering the lifestyles of individual children and the socioeconomic characteristics of their communities.MethodsData of 2043 5th-grade students in 21 elementary schools in Ichikawa city between 2008 and 2013 were analyzed. Children’s oral health status was evaluated using the decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth (DMFT) index. A self-reported lifestyle questionnaire, a survey of the school environment promoting tooth-brushing, and community socioeconomic characteristics derived from the National Census data were included in the analyses. Bivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate the children’s DMFT status, and zero-inflated negative binominal (ZINB) regression was used to assess the relationships between DMFT and other variables.ResultsPrevalence of dental caries in the permanent teeth of 5th-grade children (aged 10–11 years) was 33.3%, with a mean DMFT score (± SD) of 0.83 ± 1.50. According to multilevel ZINB regression analysis, children from schools with after-lunch tooth-brushing time showed a higher odds ratio (OR) for excess zero DMFT (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.00–2.15, P = 0.049) as compared to those from schools without it. Neither bivariate analysis nor ZINB model analysis revealed any significant influence of children’s gender or use of a toothpaste with fluoride.ConclusionsThe school-based environment supportive of oral health was significantly associated with a zero DMFT status in children. School-based efforts considering the socioeconomic characteristics of the area warrant attention even with declining prevalence of dental caries.

Effects of health-promoting school strategy on dental plaque control and preventive behaviors in schoolchildren in high-caries, rural areas of Taiwan: a quasi-experimental design

“…Our findings are consistent with previous studies [29,30], which showed that school-based programs could improve oral hygiene and establish positive oral health behaviors among schoolchildren. Studies have indicated that oral health education by dental professionals is an effective method of reducing dental PI and improving oral health knowledge among children [31,32].…”

“…It is vital to improve children’s oral health through health promotion at an early stage, because such promotion received at primary school-age may affect health-related behavior later in life [ 29 ]. A school-based supportive environment was significantly associated with children’s oral health status [ 30 ]. Previous researches have mostly come in the form of curricular teaching intervention or a single domain related to oral health promotion [ 31 , 32 ].…”

Relationship between the Appearance of Symptoms and Hospital Visits in Childhood Based on Japanese Statistical Data

“…However, the perceived health status ranks among the lower end in the world according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [ 10 ]. The Health Promoting Schools framework activity of the World Health Organization has been developed as a Sustainable Development Goal outline aiming for sustainable societies in the future [ 11 ], and health checkups and guidance are also being implemented in all schools in Japan [ 12 ].…”

Treatment interruption is a risk factor for sickness presenteeism: a large-scale cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Further, to handle data with excess zeros, which indicates a population at low risk of sickness presenteeism, we used a zero-inflated model. In addition to dealing with the excess zeros that often occur in count data, a zero-inflated model has also been proposed as a way to handle the difficulty of defining sickness presenteeism cutoffs 24,25 . As a measure of model fitness, we compared the Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC), and ultimately adopted the ZINB model.…”