The Oral Health of School Children in Ho Municipality, Ghana

ABSTRACT

Objective: An exploratory oral health study was undertaken in the Ho Municipality, Ghana in order to determine the prevalence of oral diseases among school children and provide baseline data on their oral health. The knowledge and practices among the school children with respect to oral cleaning practices and oral health seeking behaviour, and the eating habits associated with oral health problems were determined. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. A stratified random sample of school children in primary one to JHS two from rural and urban schools was selected. Oral clinical examination was conducted using WHO standard guidelines. This enabled the investigator to measure the mean DMFT, CPITN scores, prevalence of malocclusion, tooth fracture, enamel hypoplasia and cleft lip/palate. Questionnaires were administered by a Community Oral Health Officer (COHO), a Community Health Nurse and the principal investigator. However, oral examination was carried out by the principal investigator alone. Results: A mean DMFT score of 0.24(+/-0.75) was obtained with a decay component of 92.3%. Caries free prevalence was 87.5%. The proportion of school children, 20.4% with healthy mouths was low. A total of 79.6% had calculus/bleeding gums. There were 59.9% of school children who claimed to clean their mouths twice daily. Majority of them used the toothbrush (82.2%) and toothpaste (92.3%).The prevalence of tooth fracture (4.2%) and enamel hypoplasia (5.3%) were low. No cleft lip/palate was seen. Malocclusion was 27.9% in the study sample with the perception of bad teeth arrangement being 15.6%.Only 2.4% of the school children ever visited the dentist. As low as 7.1% of those who ever had toothache sought treatment at a hospital with 92.9% seeking self-medication or doing nothing about their toothache. Conclusion: The oral health of school children is poor. There is the need for a comprehensive programme on oral health to be incorporated in the school health outreaches.