Effectiveness of Oral Health Educational Methods among School Children Aged 5–16 Years in Improving their Oral Health Status: A Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Oral health is an essential component of health throughout life. Two major oral diseases, dental caries and gingival conditions are prevalent in young population. School-based oral health education (OHE) programs with recognized technology and traditional lecturing could be strategic in promotion of oral health behavior in developed and developing countries. AIM: The aim of the study is to summarize existing evidence in order to evaluate the effectiveness of OHE programs in school children aged 5–16 years in improving their oral health status. METHODOLOGY: Clinical trials with school children between 5 and 16 years were included. Eligible studies were those which had outcomes as caries, plaque and gingival indices, and oral hygiene status. Articles published from 2010 to 2019 in English language from PubMed, Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ), and Google Scholar were searched. Forty-one articles were identified and relevance was determined by examining title and full article. Nine articles were included for qualitative synthesis and seven were eligible for meta-analysis. The risk of bias was assessed by Cochrane Handbook. A meta-analysis was done using Review Manager 5.3 software. RESULTS: After the meta-analysis results for cumulative mean difference was found as 0.05 (–0.17, 0.27), –0.37 (–0.74, 0.00), –0.20 (–0.33, –0.07), and –0.17 (–0.73, 0.38) for plaque status, Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified (OHI-S), debris status, and dental caries, respectively showing a significant difference favoring the experimental group than traditional group. CONCLUSION: Interventions given by various aids like lectures, albums, models, flipcharts, leaflets, E-programs, games, drawings, and presentations proved effective in improving oral hygiene status and dental caries, but no reduction in plaque levels and gingival inflammation as compared to oral health talk/counseling by dentists. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Gurav KM, Shetty V, Vinay V, et al. Effectiveness of Oral Health Educational Methods among School Children Aged 5–16 Years in Improving their Oral Health Status: A Meta-analysis. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2022;15(3):338-349.