EVALUATION OF SANITARY AND EDUCATIONAL WORK EFFICIENCY WITH CHILDREN OF VARIOUS AGE GROUPS

Despite the achievements in dentistry during the last decade there has been an increase in the prevalence of dental diseases among children, which adversely affects the general health condition. Thus, the issue of dental diseases prevention, which includes various methods and measures, including hygiene education, is very important. The effective method of primary prevention of dental diseases in children groups is to conduct health lessons,which do not require significant economic costs and material resources. In Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University such subject as "Prevention of dental diseases" is studied on the 3rd course at Dentistry Faculty. According to the work program, there is a practical class on the topic "Health lesson conducting", that takes four academic hours. This class has a practical aim only, as it involves the work of students with children of different age groups. It is a practical skill that aims at teaching the students to communicate with children, to educate them about the prevention of stomatological diseases. The health lesson, actually, is an active form of sanitary and educational work, which includes conversations, explanations, lectures, debates, presentations, conferences, and performances for younger children. 3rd year students of Dentistry Faculty of IFNMU made up a questionnaire and surveyed 130 children: 30 preschoolers ( age 5-6), 70 junior school pupils (7-8 years old) and 30 senior school pupils (12-13 years old) three months before and after conducting a Health lesson. Children's knowledge of oral care, hygiene and nutritional skills were evaluated before and after training. For preschoolers, the lesson of health was conducted as a performance, for younger school pupils it was an interactive game and for senior pupiuls it was a lecture with a multimedia presentation. The analysis of personal data shows that hygiene education was effective for children of all age groups. However, the largest number of children who have shown the best knowledge of oral care is the younger school group. The correct answers to the main questions of the questionnaire were given by 67% of the children before the health class and 76.38% after it. Preschoolers also had good results: 49.6% of children responded correctly before the study of oral hygiene and 66.24% after it. 64.96% of school-age children had knowledge about the prevention of dental diseases before hygiene education and 70.7% after it. It was also noted that 24.7% of children of all age groups indicated that they consumed a lot of sweets, and after three months their number, unfortunately, has increased up to 26.86%. The results of the study indicate the effectiveness of conducting health lessons among children. Both preschoolers and schoolchildren have got new knowledge about the possibility of risk factors reducing of dental diseases and have formed motivation to oral hygiene. However, in future, each age group needs more detailed explanation of dental diseases prevention. It is necessary to create conditions for the development of positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle among children and the preservation of dental health together with teachers and parents. So, health education helps to create, even at early age, a system of sustainable oral hygiene skills and, and what is more, to remove the psychological barrier between a "terrifying" dentist and a small patient.