Abstract

NUNEZ ANTUNEZ, Leonardo; SANJURJO ALVAREZ, María del Carmen; GONZALEZ HEREDIA, Eugenia  and  RODRIGUEZ, Ángel Ramón. Educative oral health intervention in the institutionalized elderly from a rural zone . Rev Cubana Estomatol [online]. 2006, vol.43, n.4, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-297X.

An educative intervention study was conducted to generalize the instruction “smiles of the millenium” aimed at changing the oral health habits in the institutionalized aged population of the rural zone of Mella municipality from May to August 2005. The universe was composed of all the older adults and the studied variables were age, sex and educational level. A sample of 26 elderly individuals, who were actively incorporated to the institution, according to their possibilities, and who showed their disposition, was selected . They answered a questionnaire on the topics approached by the research in order to measure the knowledge about the health problems stated. It was developed a program of activities by group techniques and didactic games to guarantee the interactive participation in the acquisition of knowledge. An oral examination was also made to facilitate the dental curative care that was given parallel to the educative intervention, with which it was possible to increase significantly the level of knowledge about oral health among the participating elderly.

Keywords : educative intervention; geriatric population; participation; oral health problems.