The Effect of Digital Media Programs on the Oral Health Promotion in the Health Office: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Introduction: regular using of the toothbrush, mouthwash and dental floss is useful in prevention and treatment of the oral diseases.aims: this paper examines the impact of an educational film on the promotion of the student’s oral health behavior.methods and material: this research was conducted in chabahar in 2011-2012, on10-12 year old girls .three hundred students were randomly assigned to three groupsof 100. the type of the intervention included film and lecture. post tests were conductedin two phases: immediately and 3 months after the first intervention.statistical analysis used: the research data from valid and reliable researcher-madequestionnaire was analyzed by the spss version 16 using one-way analysis ofvariance (anova) and mann-whitney u tests. the study was approved by theethical committee of tarbiat modares university.results: the highest rate of the birth order in the study population was two, mean age of students was 11 years, and the mean number in each family was five. the average education level of mothers and fathers was illiterate and literacy respectively. the ma-jority of fathers were unemployed and mothers were housewives. most of the families had private housing. mean decayed missed filled teeth (dmft) was: 1.46 + 1.66 .the level of the knowledge and attitude about teeth brushing was increased immediately and after the intervention (p-value < 0/001).the rate of practice increased after 3 months (p < 0/001). the level of the knowledge and attitude about dental flossing increased immediately and after 3 months. the rate of the practice did not increase after 3 months (p < 0/46) .the level of the knowledge about using the mouthwash increased immediately afterthe intervetion and after 3 months(p < 0/003). the rate of the practice did not increaseimmediately after the intervetion (p < 0/43). the film intervention was effective onthe students’ knowledge immediately and 3 months after the intervention(p < 0/025).the film effectivelly influenced students’ attitude both immediately and 3 monthsafter the intervention(p < 0/028). taken all together the study shows that the oralhealth practice is worse in the families with the lower socio-economic situation.conclusions: using educational film could be effective in promoting students’ selfcarebehaviors.