TOOTHBRUSHING KNOWLEDGE BEFORE AND AFTER HEALTH EDUCATION USING DENTAL PHANTOM AND AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA AMONG STUDENTS AGED 10–12 YEARS AT SDN 25 GADUT, AGAM REGENCY

Abstract

Proper toothbrushing knowledge is an important factor in maintaining oral health among school-aged children. Dental health education using appropriate media can improve students’ understanding of proper toothbrushing techniques. This study aimed to describe students’ toothbrushing knowledge before and after dental health education using phantom and audiovisual media among students aged 10–12 years at SDN 25 Gadut, Agam Regency. This descriptive study involved 98 students aged 10–12 years. Total population sampling was used. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed descriptively using frequency distributions and percentages. Before education using the phantom medium, 26 students (53.1%) had moderate knowledge, 22 (44.9%) had good knowledge, and 1 (2.0%) had poor knowledge. After education, 44 students (89.8%) had good knowledge and 5 (10.2%) had moderate knowledge. Before education using audiovisual media, 27 students (55.2%) had moderate knowledge, 20 (40.8%) had good knowledge, and 2 (4.0%) had poor knowledge. After education, 41 students (83.7%) had good knowledge and 8 (16.3%) had moderate knowledge. In conclusion, dental health education using both phantom and audiovisual media was associated with an increase in the proportion of students with good toothbrushing knowledge. Descriptively, the phantom medium showed a greater increase in the proportion of students with good knowledge than the audiovisual medium. However, because the analysis was limited to frequencies and percentages, these findings do not establish statistical significance or confirm the superiority of either medium. Dental health professionals may consider using phantom media as an educational tool in school-based oral health promotion programs, while further studies using appropriate statistical analyses are needed to compare the effectiveness of these media.