การรับรู้ข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับสุขภาพช่องปากของเด็กนักเรียน มัธยมศึกษาตอนต้น อำเภอลอง จังหวัดแพร่

Abstract

Oral health problem is a major public health problem. Good oral health is a key factor for physical growth in relevant to physical development. Oral problem health among adolescence, especially early adolescence, may cause consequent several problems. Hence, this descriptive research is aimed to examine perception of oral health information and factors influencing perception of oral health information among secondary school students. The sample group is selected from 124 grade 8 (Mattayom 2) students of Long Wittaya School. The sample group is derived from specific purpose sampling. The three types of tool used for compiling data consist of questionnaire developed by researcher. The questionnaire comprises of general information and perception of oral health information. The oral health information includes experiences gained from dental services and disease prevention services, oral care, and roles of oral care with sociability. Meanwhile, this questionnaire is used asinterview guide for in-depth interview, its contents are validated by 3 experts, which took Content Validity Index = 0.77. Reliability is tested by implementing Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, which reliability = 0.87. Theoral health survey form among 12-year and 15-year was conducted by the Dental Health Division, Bureau of Dental Health, Ministry of Public Health (Dental Health Division, 2008). The descriptive statistic is implemented for data analysis.

The findings indicate that perception of oral health information among secondary students has been incomplete and incorrect. Most of their perceptions are derived from experiences of dental services and disease prevention services by dental personnel. Some of them have not acknowledged that they have oral health problems if symptoms do not present, for example, toothache and bleeding. In addition, perception and assessment of oral health is perceived from roles of oral with sociability about bad teeth appearance, maxillary excess, crowding teeth and bad breath. It is proven that students are interesting in oral care because of orthodontic treatment for fashion. A proportion of perception of oral health among female students and students with grade 3.50 or higher is higher than male students and students with grade lower than 3.50. Additionally, it is found that secondary students should receive oral check consistently as well as integrated oral hygiene including dentistry disease, disease characteristics, disease causes, and disease disadvantage. It is advised to focus on problems affecting to sociability of students. Knowledge of doing oral health care by itself will enable students to find abnormality in time without waiting until symptoms are visibly seen. Preventive knowledge about appropriate oral health care, food, snacks and beverage selection may be provided in group or specific person. For male students, it is advised to focus on checking oral health knowledge by itself. Forfemale students, focus on correct teeth brushing, food, snacks and beverage selection. It is suggested to aware of selected health education media by considering communication methods to be apprehensive and appropriate for students.