Background:

Chronic gingivitis is an oral health problem in adolescents, related to poor knowledge and risk factors.

Objective:

To apply educational intervention to modify the adolescents’ level of knowledge about chronic gingivitis at the CMF 10 in Sancti Spíritus.

Methodology:

A quasi-experimental study was conducted, with a before and after design from September 2018 to February 2019, the population consisted of 196, and the sample of 61 adolescents who presented chronic gingivitis. The variables used: knowledge about gingivitis prevention, oral hygiene and presence of gingivitis´ severity, methods: theoretical and empirical level (survey, interview, determination of the IHBS, Silness y Löe Gingival Index and descriptive statistics.

Results:

The knowledge before the intervention was insufficient (40.8 %), severity of the disease 50.8 % presented moderate gingivitis and 47.5 % bad oral hygiene; after the intervention 90.1 % had sufficient knowledge, 73.7 % without any alteration in the gums and 83.6 % good hygiene.

Conclusions:

The educational intervention managed to increase knowledge, decrease severity of gingivitis and improve oral hygiene of adolescents.

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