Aim: To compare the benefits of didactic versus board game-based oral health instruction on oral health knowledge (OHK) and oral hygiene of preschool students. Materials and Methods: Participants were selected through computer-assisted randomization. (Eighty students were selected in both the 3- to 4-year-old and 5- to 6-year-old age groups, respectively, for a total of 160 participants). Forty participants of each age group were assigned randomly to Group A (PowerPoint® presentation) and 40 to Group B ("Dental Truth or Dare" board game-based instruction). OHK and debris index-simplified (DI-S) were assessed at preintervention, and at 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month postintervention timepoints. Results: OHK scores increased significantly in the 3- to 4-year-old subset of Group A at the 1-week postintervention timepoint but declined and approximated the baseline value at the 3-month timepoint. In contrast, compared to baseline, significantly improved OHK scores were observed at all 3 timepoints in both age groups in Group B, and were especially pronounced in the 5- to 6-year-old subset. Although the 3-month scores were slightly lower than the 1-week scores, they were well above baseline values. Pre- and postintervention DI-S scores did not change significantly in the 3- to 4-year-old subset of Group A. However, significant increases in good DI-S scores and decreases in fair and poor scores were observed between baseline and 3-month timepoints in the 5- to 6-year-old subset of Group A and in both age subsets of Group B (P ≤ 0.05). OHK and DI-S scores were significantly higher among 5-6-year-olds than among the 3-4-year olds in both Groups A and B (P ≤ 0.05). Age and board game intervention were the main determinants of higher OHK and lower DI-S scores. The impact of intervention mode (board game) was greater than that of age. Conclusion: Board game-based oral hygiene education conferred significant short-term retention, enhanced OHK, and reduced DI-S. We conclude that gaming is an easily implemented and cost-effective educational tool for the improvement of oral hygiene in preschool children.
Keywords: Board game; Debris index-simplified; Oral health education; Oral health knowledge; Preschool children.