Affiliation:
1. Lecturer, St. Joseph College of Nursing, Nallapadu, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
2. Professor, KIMS College of Nursing, Ministers Road, Secunderabad.
Abstract
Dental hygiene, also known as oral hygiene, is the process by which preventative dental care is provided to avoid dental emergencies. Despite remarkable reduction in the prevalence of dental caries in developed countries, dental caries is still a highly prevalent disease among children in developing countries. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of dental caries and to assess the Effectiveness of Play Way Method of Teaching on Dental Hygiene among School Children. A school-based prevalence assessment of dental caries was done among 657, nine to twelve years old students studying in 4th to 7th class in a selected school. Modified DMFT [Decayed, Modified, Filled Teeth] indices check list (WHO criteria-1997) was used to collect relevant data. A Quasi-experimental study one group pre-test post-test design was chosen for this study. The study was carried out among 60 School Children Studying at St. Arnold’s High School, R.C.Puram, Hyderabad, Telangana. Samples were selected by proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Structured Knowledge Questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge on dental hygiene. The study adopted Ludwig Von Bertalanffy’s General System model. The study revealed that the mean percentage between pre-test and post-test 1 was 41.46% and post-test 1 and post-test 2 was 5.7%. The overall mean improvement percentage between pre-test and post-test 2 was 47.19%. The calculated paired ‘t’ value t = 14.734, t = 19.370 and t = 4.119 between pretest, post-test 1 and post-test 2 was found to be statistically highly significant at p, 0.001 level respectively. The calculated repeated measures ANOVA of F = 252.216 was found to be statistically highly significant at p<0.001. The intervention of Play Way method of Teaching on Dental Hygiene imparted to School Children was found to be Effective to improve the level of Knowledge among School Children on Dental Hygiene.