Promoting oral hygiene and health through school

Abstract

A combined education, promotion, and preventive program in the school would greatly reduce the amount of classroom time lost in traveling to a treatment facility. Comprehensive school programs also would obviate the loss of study time due to pain and apprehension before and after treatment. Today, there is a need for research and evaluation on the best approaches to promoting oral health in schools with a focus on school-based clinics. Data from original scientific papers published in PubMed, PubMed Central, and Google Scholar were taken for review. Articles published in English are only included. The review concluded that the primary objective of school oral health promotion programs must focus on the 3 M's – manpower, money, and material, plus the amount of classroom time it will take from conventional classroom education.