School practice for dental health promotion

Oral health defention according to world health organization:

It is a state of being free from mouth and facial pain, oral and throat cancer, oral
infection and sores, periodontal (gum) disease, tooth decay, tooth loss, and other
diseases and disorders that limit an individuals capacity in biting, chewing, smiling,
speaking.

So healthy mouth enables an individual to speak, eat, and socialize without

experiencing active disease, discomfort, or embarrassment.

Children who suffer from poor oral health are likely to have restricted activity days
than those who do not and were more likely it will affect in there academics. More
than 50 million school hours are lost annually because of oral health problems, even
most of oral health problems can be prevented or reversed at their early onset . , in
several countries, a considerable number of children, their parents, and teachers have
limited knowledge of the causes and prevention of oral disease.

. At the global level, approximately 80% of children attend primary schools and 60%
complete at least 4 years of education, so The school provides an ideal setting for
promoting oral health.

What do we mean by school practice for dental health promotion ?

It's the attempt to prevent tooth decay(Since its one of the most common chronic
conditions of childhood )by ensuring that the students have the preventive oral health
servecis they need in school through combining education, promotion, and preventive
programs reaching especially children from low-income.
School-Based and School-Linked Dental Sealant Programs

Sealants prevent tooth decay and also stop cavities from growing. School-based sealant
programs provide sealants to children in a school setting, and school-linked programs
screen the children in school and refer them to private dental practices or public dental
clinics that place the sealants. These programs have been shown to increase the number
of children who receive sealants at school, and that dental sealants result in a large
reduction in tooth decay among school-aged children 516 years

.
1

The dental sealant is an efficient and safe means of preventing pit and fissure caries in newly erupted
teeth. Dental sealants applicationhas also been tested as an effective feasible measure in
schools [Table 2]. Sealants are helpful for individuals at high risk for tooth decay such as those with
medical conditions associated with higher caries rates, children who have experienced extensive caries
in their primary teeth, and children who already have incipient caries in a permanent molar tooth .

Diet and Nutrition

Healthy nutrition takes many forms and is understood differently in different countries and among
different cultures. In general, healthy nutrition should be an integral part of daily life that contributes to
the physiological, mental, and social well-being of individuals. It is the combined effect of food, health,
and care. Nutritional well-being is determined by consuming safe food as part of an appropriate and
balanced diet that contains an adequate amount of nutrients in relation to bodily requirements .

The health and lifestyle of an individual influence the extent to which food contributes to good social,
mental, and physical well-being. Care is shown by providing time, attention, and support in the
household and the community to meet the food and heal th needs of the child and other family members.

Oral health activities can be included in the assessment and monitoring of nutritional status such as a
school height census. While school food services are often managed by the public or private sectors
through the ministry of education, it is important for schools, teachers, students, and school oral health
services to collaborate closely with them to support healthy eating initiatives in schools .[18]

Furthermore, schools also provide a setting to introduce nutrition information and technologies to the
community and can lead the community in advocating policies and services that promote good nutrition.
No other setting than schools offers these opportunities on as equal a basis [Table 3].

Prevention of Periodontal Disease

Chronic gingivitis is the most common oral health problem worldwide in both adults and children. While
the disease is largely reversible in nature, it can develop in susceptible hosts into periodontitis, which is
characterized by irreversible loss of periodontal attachment.[1]

Periodontitis common in adults, but is still seen in children e ither as a rare but severely destructive form
called aggressive periodontitis or a more common milder form called chronic periodontitis. In fact, the
high prevalence of these types of periodontitis in children has been reported from some parts of the
world. Therefore, early intervention to improve oral hygiene and reduce gingivitis is probably an
important approach to prevent periodontitis in children as is the case with adults. We can prevent
gingivitis and periodontal diseases among school children throug h programs such as classroom
toothbrushing.

Toothbrushing

Toothbrushing in schoolsis a valuable tool for reinforcing good oral hygiene. A classroom brushing
program is an excellent way to help students learn and practice proper brushing techniques. The most
important aspect of toothbrushing from an early age is to develop a regular toothb rushing habit and to
provide topical application of fluoride through toothpaste to the teeth to reduce the chance of tooth
decay in children. Studies have shown that children who participated in a school toothbrushing program
believed effective toothbrushing were able to improve their oral hygiene

Improvements in the level of general dental health can only be realized if children receive good dental
care from the time their first teeth erupt. Unfortunately, the oral health of children has long been
neglected, despite widespread dental problems before age 3. Most schools have annual school health
check-up which includes single lecture and demonstration .

Health education

Health education is given two objectives. One is to enable students to acquire t he necessary skills to
make free and responsible choices about health, and the other is to create conditions in which all
students can succeed. This insistence on all students is related to the particular attention that is paid to
those who are vulnerable because of disability, social situation, or health.

Schools have a particular responsibility, working closely with families, to watch over the health of the
young people in their care and to enable them to develop their personalities to the fullest exte nt. They
also take part in prevention and health promotion, providing students throughout their school life with
health education that is closely tied to teaching, and which is appropriate for their expectations and
needs, and that is well-adapted to current public health challenges. The aim is to enable them to acquire
knowledge and to develop critical skills, and thereby to adopt behaviors that will support their future
health, by improving their levels of autonomy and responsibility. For this reason, stu dent health cannot
only be the business of a few specialists but should involve the whole of the educational community .

Role of school teachers

Teachers are the cornerstones and can play a major role in imparting dental health education to children
by playing a vital role in planning and implementing oral health preventive programs. Since children
spend a considerable amount of time with teachers during their school education, it becomes the
responsibility of the teachers, by virtue of their training to i mpart such knowledge to the children.
Promoting knowledge about the causes and prevention of oral diseases has become an important
responsibility of school teachers. The National Oral Health Care Program states that when teachers
brush their teeth, students follow the suit and it becomes a daily exercise routine for them. This can
encourage the link between education and healthy habits as it shapes the individual's way of life and
personality. School teachers can provide dental health education and screenin g for any gross deposit of
food and calculus. This proves to be a feasible and more effective way of imparting and educating
children for good oral hygiene. In India, which is developing, programs can be organized to train
teachers on a short-term basis. This can be incorporated as part of the curriculum which can bring about
a change in oral hygiene behavior which in turn can bring about a change in lifestyle practices .

Role of government

The government should incorporate dental surgeons in school health programs to give lecture on oral
health, oral hygiene, plaque control, oral and dental diseases, oral cancer or smokeless tobacco use
and hazards counseling, and topical fluoride application. The government should incorporate oral and
dental health-related topic in school curriculum. Compulsory fitness regarding oral and dental health
should be made mandatory for class promotion.

Role of health professional

Dental surgeons working in public sector have an important role to play in school dental health pr ogram
to reinstitute the oral and dental health. It is important to enhance the knowledge about good oral health
in teachers and parents by caring out workshops and seminars on oral and dental health by dental
surgeons working in public health sector. Dental surgeons working in public health sector should carry
out oral screening to improve the future of oral health care .

Tobacco avoidance and cessation

Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death and disease. Most adults who use tobacco
products started before the age of 18, so policies that help to keep youth from starting to use tobacco
are vitally important in reducing tobacco use.

Children and youth spend most of their days at school. Tobacco -free school grounds support the
message students receive in the classrooms, creating no conflict between what is taught and what is
experienced in the rest of the school environment. Prohibiting tobacco use at all times on school
grounds reinforces the norm that most people do not use tobacco products and do not want to breathe
secondhand smoke.

In addition to the health consequences, research shows that tobacco use affects student attendance
and academic performance. Policies and procedures that provide positive support for remaining
tobacco-free or that help students to quit actually help learning. Helping students with health -related
needs, such as tobacco use, allows them to become better academic students [Table 5]. If they can be
helped to solve non-academic problems, students will be in class more often, have fewer health
problems, and feel more connected to their peers .

Preventive Dentistry in Sports

Unintentional injury is one of the leading causes of death in the world, with 1 in 5 deaths among children
under the age of 15 years. In some developing countries, unintentional injuries account for 80% of all
deaths in children. Sport- and playground-related injuries, as well as general and road traffic accidents,
often affect the head, neck, and mouth. Throughout the world, the number of cases of head and face
injuries is increasing in both urban and rural areas. With the increase in road traffic, poor lighting on the
road and a lack of legislation regarding road safety, this is particularly significant in some developing
countries.

The front teeth are most vulnerable. In some countries, over 50% of children have experienced oral
trauma, with a quarter of cases being children under the age of 5 years While the most commonly
sustained damage is fractures to tooth enamel, some injuries can lead to permanent tooth loss. The
significance of intentional head and face injuries should not be overlooked. In addition to potential direc t
damage to the teeth and, possibly, other head and face structures, there may be signs of child abuse, a
problem that could scar the child for life. Schools are the major public institutions in most communities.
What schools define as important to the well-being of the students and school staff reflects out into the
communities they serve. Schools that actively promote tobacco -free living make a strong statement that
tobacco use is not acceptable [Table 6]. By setting this example, school and public health advocates
collaborate to change environments and improve the health of all citizens .[31]

Conclusion

School dental health programs are one aspect of total dental public health programs and should be
allied to other programs of prevention and education as far as possible. If school children maintain good
dental health, then it can be carried in adult life. Hence, regular dental attendance pattern in early life will
be continued after the school age. Since children are often the most important v ictims of dental
diseases, programs aimed at dental health of the school children are of great importance in promoting
oral health of the community.

If oral health promotion is to be accomplished through the school systems, it must be integrated with the
general medical health program. In order not to detract from the teaching of the classic academic
curriculum, the school year must be lengthened proportionately to the increased time demands of
promoting health, and the school system's budget must be incre ased to meet the requirements for
additional facilities, workforce, and materials .