Effect of a health education program in the oral health profile of preschool children: an experience in the public network of Porto Alegre, Brazil

Objectives: To estimate the effect of health promotion activities developed in a child education school, on the children’s oral health profile, relating oral manifestations to social, sanitary and feeding factors. Methods: Interventional, longitudinal and describing quantitative work, accomplished with 41 preschool children from four to six years old, living in the area assisted by a Family Health Team (Equipe de Saúde da Família-ESF) in the city of Porto Alegre-RS. Diagnosis of dental caries and gingivitis was carried out through oral clinical examination at the beginning and at the end of the study. The dietary pattern was obtained by applying a questionnaire and the social-sanitary aspects of the families, from the records of File A in the Basic Health Care Information System (Sistema de Informação da Atenção Básica-SIAB). Results: Caries disease was diagnosed in 58.5% of the children, whose dmft index (total sum of decayed, extracted and filled teeth) was 2.43. There was a decrease in the number of decayed teeth and an increase in extracted and filled teeth. The rates of visible plaque and gums bleeding got better. The social-sanitary aspects were standardized in the community, being not representative. The group presenting the highest dmft values followed a diet containing sugars, with viscous consistence and an intake frequency of four or more times a day. Conclusion: The activities of health promotion developed in the school partially changed the children’s oral conditions. There was a positive correlation between consistency, composition and frequency of diet and the presence of caries disease; on the other hand, there was no significant relation between social-sanitary conditions and the presence of oral diseases