Effects of information dissemination using video of indigenous language on 11-12 years children's dental health.

Background: Videos as a medium of health education are useful tools. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a dental health education video in the Yoruba language (spoken in southwestern Nigeria) targeted at children from the lower socioeconomic class.

Methods: An interventional study was conducted among 120 children aged 11 and 12 years, randomly selected from three public primary schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. Participants were assigned into three study groups: group 1 watched the video, group 2 received verbal dental health education in the Yoruba language and group 3 were the control. Following this, each participant received a full mouth prophylaxis, and six weeks later, their oral hygiene was assessed using the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index of Greene and Vermillion.

Results: A mean debris score of (1.11), (1.04) and (1.57) was recorded for the video, verbal and control groups respectively (p<0.001). The mean calculus index score was lowest among the verbal group (0.56), followed by the video group (0.75) and highest among the control (1.16) (p<0.001). However, multivariate analysis, controlling for child's age and fathers education, revealed that oral hygiene of the participants in the video group was significantly better by 28.6% compared to the control group while in the verbal education group there was an improvement of 23.4 % in contrast to the control.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a culturally appropriate video in an indigenous language can significantly improve oral hygiene among school children from the lower socioeconomic group in Nigeria.