Durham Head Start Oral Health Experimental Case-Study

 I conducted a semester long experimental case-control study on DHS’s students to

understand why their oral health was so poor.

Background
 Students have high amounts of plaque and caries.
 My preceptor and I believe that their teeth aren’t being brushed consistently either in
the classroom or at home.
 Teachers are negligent about classroom brushing
 Parents have nonchalant attitudes towards their child’s oral health
 Parents attitudes towards their young child’s teeth is a direct cause of our health
problem. If we can change the oral health attitudes of parents, brushing would occur
more frequently at home.

Research Questions
 The question I wanted the study to answer was what factor had the biggest impact on
the children’s health. Classroom brushing, parents’ attitudes, and brushing at home all
factored into their poor oral health, but knowing which had the strongest would direct
our future interventions

Methods
 I conducted an experimental case-control study by using each of the four classrooms
with a different intervention method for each.
 I used a random-sample of six children from each of the four classrooms.
 I measured each of them by using a plaque revealing solution to determine their levels
of plaque prior to the study. I re-measured the same children’s levels following the
conclusion of the study.
 I based DHS’s future interventions off the group of children that showed the biggest
improvements
Results
 The study is currently still in progress so the results are to be determined.

Conclusion
 There are two weeks left in the study, so my findings are incomplete but my personal
suspicion is that parents are negligent in the care of their children’s teeth. The study
 was only for a semester, so it’s unlikely that our parental intervention had the time
needed to make a significant impact. However, I personally believe that DHS should put
their efforts into parental oral health engagement.

Implications
 Our work is showing the need for early health education and engagement with parents
of young children. What DHS is finding, that by the age of four, oral health problems
have started and are impacting the child’s daily routine. Public health professionals
should educate parents early in their child’s life on the importance of their child’s
primary teeth and how its neglect can impact them as adults.