Assessment Performance of Primary School Students Regarding Oral Hygiene and Dental Caries

.S., Abstract Background : Oral health is integral to general health and essential for well-being and oral diseases qualify as major public health problems owing to their high prevalence and incidence. The public health problems associated with oral diseases are a serious burden on countries around the world. Performance refer to any learning activity that, students perform to demonstrate their knowledge, attitude and practice. Aim of the Study: The current study aimed to assess performance of primary school pupils regarding oral hygiene and dental caries. Design : A descriptive cross sectional research design was utilized to fulfill the aim of this study. Setting: The study was conducted in Alshimy School and Towa (2) Primary Schools affiliated to Minia City of Minia Governorate, Egypt. Sample : Cluster random sample of 400 children were committed to the study. The children were distributed for the six schools class as following (30% from each class). Data collection Tools : Four tools were used as follows: Tool I; Structured interviewing questionnaire (socio demographic data, Dietary Habits and practice), Tool II ; Knowledge Assessment Tool, Tool III ; Self-Reported practices Assessment tool& Tool IV ; (Dental Caries Attitude Scale) among the primary school pupils. Results : The current study revealed that there is no statistical significant differences between total knowledge scores and age, residence and total practices at (p value<0.05), there is statistical significant differences between all knowledge score, attitudes scores and sex at (p value=03) and highly statistically significant difference between attitudes and residence at ( p value=.001) . Conclusion: According to the results of this study, more than three quarter of school children had an unsatisfactory level of knowledge about dental caries, and more than three quarters of them had poor practices scores toward dental caries, around three quarter had negative attitudes scores. Recommendations : Regular dental check-up and identification of high caries risk among school children should be conducted by training school nurses and other primary care workers who have regular contact with school children &providing health education for teachers and pupils about oral hygiene and prevention of dental caries.