ROLE OF TEACHERS IN PROVIDING ORAL HEALTH EDUCATION TO SCHOOL CHILDREN

Objectives: To determine the role of schoolteachers in providing oral health education to school children and to asses schoolteachers’ knowledge, practices, and the barriers in implementing oral health education among schoolchildren.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in different public and private schools of Peshawar. The sample size comprised of 311 schoolteachers who were recruited via simple convenience sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from teachers. Frequency tables were generated for the categorical variables. Chi-square test was employed to assess the association between categorical variables and p<0.05 was considered significant.Results: Most participants (80.4%) worked in private schools, while the rest (19.6%) were in public schools. Around 21.2% of respondents reported integrating oral health into their teaching daily, while 22.5% did so weekly. Teachers exhibited strong knowledge regarding the causes and prevention of tooth decay (42.1%) and the impact of oral health on overall health (42.1%) while only 29.6% had excellent knowledge about signs and symptoms of gum diseases. Private school teachers were signifi cantly more likely to emphasize the importance of dental visits compared to public school teachers (p=0.004).Conclusion: The study revealed significant gaps in teachers' self-reported oral health knowledge, particularly in understanding fl uoride's importance and recognizing signs of gum disease, despite acknowledging oral health's importance.