Abstract

Background: Oral health is a part of the general health. Prevalence rates and patterns of oral disease have changed considerably over the past two decades. Increasing levels of dental caries among children are observed in some developing countries. The aim of the current study was to to assess and measure the effect of oral health education among different socio-economic groups and to assess the awareness of oral health of a sample of Saudi school children.
Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study that included three schools (NIS, AJS and AAS) selected from Dammam area, Saudi Arabia.
Results: A total of 42 students from each school completed the study (total 126 students). The results showed that 30% of the students had a good score of oral hygiene index simplified (OHI-s), 21% of them had good deft and 38% had good DMFt score. All of the participants had parents with highly educated degrees. The governmental school had lower score regarding the OHI-s, deft and DMFt in which 18 out of 42 had a poor OHI-S and also a high incidence of deft and DMFt. The private schools had a better OHI-s, deft and DMFt scores, where 95% of the participants had a valid score regarding DMFt, 65% have a good score regarding deft, and more than half of them had a good score in the OHI-s.
Conclusion: There is a direct relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and oral hygiene status among children in elementary schools in the community of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Additionally; high caries prevalence was observed among children attending public school.

Key words: oral health; different socio-economic groups; Dammam.