Oral hygiene habits and oral hygiene index of public school students

Objective: To verify the oral hygiene habits and oral hygiene index of schoolchildren in public elementary school in the city of Itajaí-SC. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional research. The sample consisted of children enrolled in the first year of elementary level in public schools of Itajaí-SC in 2011. Data collection was performed through registration of the children’s Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) and a questionnaire applied to parents/guardians about the characterization of schoolstudent’s oral hygiene. Results: The study evaluated 202 schoolstudent. Regarding daily toothbrushing, 121 (59.9%) reported that an adult is responsible for carrying out this procedure for the child and 81 (40.1%) reported the own child performs brushing. Brushing frequency for 128 (63.4%) children was three times a day and floss was not used by 137 (68%) of them. In 114 (56.4%) of the schoolchildren was found an OHI-S classified as reasonable hygiene (1.3 to 2). Regarding how to deal with the oral hygiene of children, 140 (69%) parents stated having already received such information and the source cited by 118 (58.4%) was the dentist. Conclusion: Schoolchildren presented oral hygiene habits with deficiency in dental plaque removal and flossing, resulting in a reasonable OHI-S.