1. First author: Popa Bianca-Irina Coauthors: Olaru erban-Nicolaie, Popa Marius-Florin Coordinator: Dr. Tohati Adrian

2. Background The dental status has a massive impact on the quality of people’s life The level of oral hygiene in a certain environment is linked to - economy - education

3. Background Proper oral hygiene : - brush teeth 2-3 times/ day - use complementary methods - change the toothbrush every 3 months - go to a dental check-up every 6 months

4. Background Lack of a good oral health leads to: - dental caries - tophus - tooth loss Dental caries are one of the most common health problems, especially among children and older adults

5. Objectives Determine gymnasium pupil’s level of oral hygiene Assess pupil’s knowledge about the basic rules in oral hygiene Teach children the importance of a good oral care Influence their daily routine

6. Material and method Children aged between 10 and 15 from four counties: Braov Brăila Bacău Mure In EACH county we worked with 600 children: - 300 urban - 300 rural Total of

7. Material and method Stage 1 Questionnaire (10 questions) Presentation (30 minutes)

9. Material and Method Stage 2 (2 months later) Questionnaire (10 questions) Feedback

10. Results 62 children missed school in the second stage of our study – it didn’t affect our result The data was collected with Microsoft Excel and statistically analyzed We based our conclusions on seven questions ( the most relevant in our questionnaire)

11. 1. How often do you brush your teeth? URBAN Chart: Children who brush their teeth 2-3 times/day Average evolution – 6.10%

12. 1. How often do you brush your teeth? RURAL Children who brush their teeth 2-3 times/day Average evolution: 10.77%

13. 1. How often do you brush your teeth? Children who brush their teeth once/week: Brașov – Urban: 6 – 4 Rural: 10 – 6 Br ă ila- Urban: 5 – 3 Rural: 12 – 4 Bac ă u- Urban: 6 – 3 Rural: 11 – 9 Mureș- Urban: 3 – 1 Rural: 4 – 1 ( 1 NEVER brushed his teeth)

14. 2. How long do you brush your teeth? URBAN Chart: Children who brush their teeth for 3-4 minutes Average evolution: 24.24%

15. 2. How long do you brush your teeth? RURAL Chart: Children who brush their teeth 3-4 minutes Average evolution: 23.64%

16. 3. Do you use dental floss and mouthwash? Urban Stage 1 20.15% Stage 2 24.72% Average results in all 4 counties Children who use both mouthwash and floss

17. 3. Do you use dental floss and mouthwash? Rural Stage 1 13.75% Stage 2 16.45% Average results in all four counties The highest percentage was registered in Târgu-Mure (28.98%) Children who use both mouthwash and floss

18. 4. How often do you change your toothbrush? Urban Stage 1 55.72% Stage 2 63.45% Rural Stage 1 58.39% Stage 2 62.15% Children who change their toothbrush every 3 months Average results in all four counties Surprising fact: In the first stage, there were 29,15% more children who declared they buy a new toothbrush every three months in the rural environment in Brăila than in the urban environment in Bacău.

19. 5. How often do you go to a dental control? Urban Stage 1 39.48% Stage 2 47.02% Rural Stage 1 24.27% Stage 2 34.91% Average results in all four counties The best results in Târgu-Mure: 50,07% in stage one and 63,82% in stage two – with at least 21,26% more than the other three counties in the first stage only 1,81% of pupils declared they have never went to a dental control (10 times less than the other 3 counties) Children who go to a dental check-up every 6 months

20. 6. What dental caries represent? URBAN Children who knew that dental caries represent the distruction of the tooth

21. 6. What dental caries represent? RURAL Children who knew that dental caries represent the distruction of the tooth Best results (overall ) : The rural environment in Br ă ila Worst results (overall): The rural environment in Mureș

22. 7. Why do dental cavities occurre? URBAN Children who knew that bacterial plaque leads to tooth decay

23. 7. Why do dental cavities occurre? RURAL Children who knew that bacterial plaque leads to tooth decay Best results (overall): The urban environment in Br ă ila Overall, in Bac ă u, better results in the rural evironment than in the urban one

24. Feedback 89,54% of the children declared that they found our project useful 79,70% of them said that they would be excited to learn more in school or through this kind of projects about oral hygiene.

25. Discussions In Romania, nowadays, tooth loss and cavities are the most common affections, especially in the rural environment and other poor areas, so prevention plays an important role. To our knowledge, no other studies were performed in Romania regarding gymnasium pupil’s knowledge about oral hygiene. We observed a greater interest about this subject among pupils aged between 10 and 12, which were more active during our presentation, asking questions and being practically involved. In the rural environment, the children were more willing to participate in the future at such projects.

26. Discussions Our results were influenced by the differences of language ( in Mure county, were we worked in schools with a high incidence of magyar children ) and by pupil’s attention and educational level. Given the large number of subjects included and considering all those factors and the fact that in the rural environment we worked in very poor areas in all four counties, our study was relevant.

27. Conclusions In the urban environment pupils are better informed about the basic rules of oral hygiene and apply them more properly than children in the rural environment. The results led us to the conclusion that prevention campaigns are necessary in the Romanian villages. In Braov and Brăila pupils were more perceptive and the evolution from one stage of our study to the other was more significant than in the other two counties. The statistics from the first stage show that children from the urban environment in Mure had the most knowledge about oral care.

28. Conclusions The most reluctant lot was in Bacău, especially in the urban environment, followed by children from the villages of Mure county. Our feedback was highly favorable and pupils declared that our information was helpful and they applied what they have learnt. Children are also desirous to participate again to prevention projects and they would even like to interpolate a special class about oral health care into their school timetable.

29. Bibliography Oral health status and treatment needs among school children in Sana'a City, Yemen; Khaled Abdulsalam Al-Haddad; Int J Dent Hyg. 2010 Aug;8(3):256. The investigation and it’s methods: questionnaire, interview for producing data, comprehensive interview; Singly, Francois, Alain Blanchet, Anne Gotman, Jean-Claude Kaufman; Polirom 1998. Parodontologie; Horia Adrian Dumitriu, Silvia Dumitru; Viaa Medicală Românească 2009. Zahnartzliche Hygiene; Bobmann, Heinenberg J.; Tieme 2002