[The influence of school staffs willingness and dental health education intervention on the oral hygiene status of the elementary school children].

The main purpose of this study was to understand the influence of school administrator's and teacher's participation in oral hygiene promotion, and dental health education intervention on the oral hygiene status of the elementary school children. Questionnaires designed to evaluate the school staff's willingness to emphasize and proceed the oral hygiene programs were answered by the school administrators (principals, deans of pupils' affair, chiefs of physical education and hygiene departments, and nurses) in 75 public elementary schools of the Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Two of the most, and of the least cooperative schools were randomly selected. The fifth grade teachers of those four schools were asked to answer the questionnaires. Pupils of the two classes whose teachers who had the greatest and the least willingness to participate were selected for further investigation. Pupils were asked to answer questionnaires, receive oral examinations and tooth-brushing instructions every other two weeks for a total of two times. The results were as follows: 1. Before active oral hygiene instruction, there is no significant difference in plaque scores among groups. However, DMFT scores are influenced by school administrators. 2. The oral hygiene education intervention actually significantly improved the school children's plaque scores. 3. The cooperation of school administrators and teachers has a positive influence on keeping (forming) school children's good oral hygiene habits. Furthermore, the influence from school administrators is more than that from teachers. 4. School children's knowledge of oral hygiene is influenced by school' administrators and teachers while teachers' attitude of oral hygiene is influenced by school administrators.