School Oral Health Program (SOHP) 2 Dr Hidayathulla Shaikh

Objectives At the end of the lecture, student should be able to – Enumerate advantages of SOHP Discuss different types of SOHP Explain Incremental dental care Mention advantages of incremental dental care.

Advantages of SOHP 1) School based oral health programs can bring comprehensive oral care including preventive measures. 2) Students can be accessed during their childhood to adolescence. 3) School clinics are less threatening than private clinics, as children are in their familiar surroundings. 4) The collaboration between oral health personnel, teachers and students helps develop positive attitude in them.

5) A regular dental attendance pattern in early life will be continued after school life as well. 6) SOHP when associated with general health programs facilitates valuable findings in medico-dental problems. 7) It reduces the time, cost of treatment and transportation for school children. 8) The health of school staff, families and community members can also be enhanced by such programs.

Some School Dental Health Programs 1) Learning About Your Oral Health – A Prevention Oriented School Program. This program was developed by American Dental Association (ADA) The primary goal of the program To develop the knowledge, skills attitudes needed for prevention of dental diseases among school children. Implementation of the program The program is divided into 5 levels, each level has its own specific content.

The 5 different levels are 1) Preschool (for children too young to read) 2) level I (kindergarten through grade 3) 3) Level II (grades 4 through 6) 4) Level III ( grades 7 through 9) 5) Level IV (grades 10 through 12) The core materials containing teaching packets of each level was given to classroom teacher. When program was evaluated it was found that there were favorable changes in the attitudes of school children towards oral health practices.

2) Tattle tooth program Developed by Texas Dental Health Professional Organizations. Three videotapes were produced as a part of teacher- training package. First videotape familiarizes teachers with lesson format and content. In Second tape ‘brushing and flossing” was developed for training teachers as well as students. Third tape provides teachers additional background information as a means of preparing them to teach a lesson.

Program Philosophy and Goals The basic goal of the program is to reduce dental diseases and develop positive dental habits for lifetime. To convince students that preventing dental diseases is important and that they can do it. Program implementation The Texas department of health employed 16 hygienists in 8 public health regions. The hygienists instructed teachers using videotapes, health promotion is encouraged and publicized.

Teachers are encouraged to invite dental professionals to demonstrate brushing and flossing in classroom. A field trip to dental office was recommended for kindergarten children. Program evaluation Dental health knowledge was significantly increased at all grades levels. Plaque levels were decreased in an randomly selected samples. Over 80% teachers judged the program to be helpful and effective.

3) Askov Dental Demonstration Askov is a farming community of Danish origin, surveys done on them in 1943 & 1946 showed very high dental caries. In Minnesota department of dental health conducted school dental health programs for Askov. This included caries prevention & control, dental health education and dental care. All recognized methods of preventive dental care were used except community water fluoridation.

Dental care was given by a group of 5 dentists from nearby communities. Findings revealed 1) 28% reduction in dental caries in deciduous dentition of children aged 3 to 5 years 2) 34% reduction in dental caries in permanent dentition of children aged 6 to 12 years 3) 14% reduction in dental caries in permanent teeth of children aged 13 to 17 years. The program also had many benefits, as good health & dietary habits for children to carry on to adult life.

4) School Dental Prevention Program (SDPP), KSA The program begun on Tuesday June , guiding staff in giving the best preventive and remedial services to the children of Ministry of National Guard. The SDPP is considered to be one of the most significant leading programs in the field of health awareness and education for children. The main target of the program is to decrease the percentage of caries among students in the Ministry of National Guard through visiting their schools

Program Objectives: Apply preventive treatment, awareness programs, and oral health education. Apply healthy nutrition programs, reducing the consumption of sugar and managing the quality of food. The application of preventive procedures such as: applying fluoride, composites, and explaining brushing techniques. Early diagnosis and treatment of dental cavities and caries for deciduous and permanent teeth. Follow up to achieve continuity in applying preventive programs.

Mobile Clinics for the School Dental Prevention Program There are well prepared mobile clinics. Each mobile clinic contains two well-equipped dental chairs with the latest materials Staff include two dentist and their assistants as well as the oral health specialists.

Incremental Dental Care It is the periodic care in which increments of dental diseases are treated at the earliest with proper diagnosis and working efficiency. Such that there is no accumulation of dental needs. This represents the ideal pattern of care where the incidence of new dental caries is expected every year. In private practice 6 months is the usual interval between visits where as in public health programs 1 year interval is implemented.

Treatment programs can be started by taking the youngest available group usually first year. Then carrying it forward in the subsequent years. Each year adding a new class of children at the next earliest available age. This is done till the entire population is being served.

Advantages of Incremental Dental Care. 1) Lesion of dental caries are treated before chances of pulpal involvement. 2) periodontal disease is intercepted at or near the beginning. 3) preventive measures are maintained on a periodic basis. 4) confines dental diseases to small early increment, thus reducing loss of teeth 5) It develops a habit of periodic visiting of dental office in later part of their life.