The Rural Dental Health Program: The Long‐Range Effect of a School‐Based Enriched Dental Health Program on Children's Oral Health*

Abstract

In November 1985, 406 children ages 15 to 19 were clinically examined, answered survey questions covering dental attitudes and behaviors, and were tested to determine their dental knowledge. This group included 56 percent of the 725 first through third graders who participated in the Rural Dental Health Program beginning in the fall of 1975. The Rural Dental Health Program was a study designed, in part, to measure the effect of a school‐based dental health program on the oral health of children in a rural, underserved Pennsylvania county. Measures taken on 406 children, six and one‐half years after the educational program ended were used to test for its possible long‐term impact on oral health. Evidence obtained from analysis of covariance supports the hypothesis that dental health education had a positive effect on children's oral health.