Dental education of outreach kindergarten service on parental dental knowledge

Abstract

Aim or Purpose: The aim is to evaluate the effect of oral health education (OHE) of an outreach service on the dental knowledge of kindergarten children's parents. Materials and Methods: The 6-month prospective study recruited kindergarten children's parents for a self-administered questionnaire survey at baseline. The questionnaire consisted of 16 multiple-choice questions on the cause and prevention of dental diseases to assess parents’ dental knowledge. One point was given for each correct answer, and no point was given for a wrong answer or a ‘don't know’ answer. Thus, the dental knowledge score ranged from 0 to 16. The parents’ dental knowledge was determined to be poor (scored 0–7), moderate (scored 8–12), or good (scored 13–16). Dental knowledge information leaflets and an OHE seminar were provided to the parents after the baseline survey. The questionnaire was used to re-assess the parents’ dental knowledge after 6 months. The change in dental knowledge after the OHE was assessed using Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Results: Out of 757 parents, 620 remained in the program at the 6-month follow-up. At baseline, 7%, 69%, and 24% of parents exhibited poor, moderate, and good dental knowledge, respectively. Whereas after six months, 7%, 62%, and 31% of parents exhibited poor, moderate, and good dental knowledge, respectively. There was a significant difference between the proportions of parents with poor, moderate, and good dental knowledge before and after the program (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P = 0.01). Conclusions: OHE of an outreach kindergarten service improved the dental knowledge of preschool children's parents.