Foundation

oral health is a component of people's general health, developing promotion and prevention actions from an early age to guarantee healthy lifestyles.

Objective

to determine the effectiveness of an educational intervention strategy to improve the oral health knowledge level in fifth grade students.

Methods

pre-experimental, intervention study, of the before and after type, in 43 schoolchildren from the Venezuela municipality, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, from September 2018 to January 2019. Learning needs were identified through a survey. The educational intervention strategy was prepared and executed with theoretical-practical activities and affective-participatory techniques according to the participants’ age. The percent was used as the summary unit; and for statistical analysis, the McNemar test.

Results

before the intervention there was insufficient knowledge about topics such as dental caries, oral hygiene and cariogenic diet; after applying the strategy, knowledge about oral health in general was modified favorably (65.1%). The information related to the time to change the toothbrush, and other auxiliary means to perform oral hygiene, were the best assimilated topics (93.0 % and 90.7 % each) by the infants.

Conclusions

the educational intervention was effective; it was evidenced by raising the oral health knowledge level in the studied population, as a result of the educational actions carried out.

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