Oral health education on dental trauma for secondary school students in Hong Kong

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Traumatic dental injuries (TDI) commonly occur in children and adolescents at home and in school. The main objectives of this project were to educate Hong Kong secondary school students on the prevention and management of TDI and to evaluate the effectiveness of the oral health education (OHE) programme. Methods: A total of 181 Secondary Four and Five students from a school with a sizeable proportion of ethnic minorities were invited to participate in this study. A quiz was conducted before the OHE. The OHE included a seminar conducted in classrooms with presentation of slides and self-produced video clips, distribution of OHE pamphlets and display of exhibition boards. A post-OHE quiz was conducted one week after the OHE seminar. The differences in students’ knowledge on TDI at the two quizzes were assessed and the factors influencing their knowledge gain were investigated. Results: A total of 157 (86.7%) students completed the pre-OHE quiz and 129 of them completed the post-OHE quiz. The students’ mean knowledge score on TDI increased markedly from 2.7 (out of a maximum score of 8) before the OHE to 5.4 after OHE (t-test; p<0.001). A significant knowledge gain in TDI was achieved irrespective of the students’ year of study, the language they spoke at home, and the past experience of TDI. Among the three factors, only the first two were found to have an influence on the magnitude of the students’ knowledge gain (p<0.05). Conclusion and Recommendation: It is concluded that the OHE programme in this project was effective in improving the participants’ knowledge on the prevention and management of TDI. Concerted efforts from the Hong Kong government, schools, and dental professionals should be made to promote such knowledge among all secondary school students. Use of interactive educational methods in the OHE activities, such as seminars with slideshow and video clips, is recommended.