Winning Smiles-Ireland

Initiative Description: Included oral health education (information on toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste and oral health), plaque scoring (the disclosing and counting of teeth with plaque to act as baseline of toothbrushing activity) and observation of the children toothbrushing skills. The teacher acted as a support and provided additional oral health information to the children in the form of class and homework activities to promote verbal fluency, reading and numeracy. The final part of Winning Smiles was the use of awards to encourage the children to participate

Study Results: Improved oral health knowledge, toothbrushing behavior and tentatively on Child oral health QoL.

Reference: Freeman, R., Gibson, B., Humphris, G., Leonard, H., Yuan, S., & Whelton, H. (2016). School-based health education programmes, health-learning capacity and child oral health–related quality of life. Health Education Journal, 75(6), 698-711.

Level of Evidence: Very Good