Introduction:
Access to oral health education is considered an important predictor for assessing the conditions and behaviors on oral health. Most 12-year children are in the school environment, being the school a propitious educational and social environment for both knowledge as behavioral changes are implemented.
Objective:
It is proposed to identify the prevalence of access to oral hygiene guidelines among schoolchildren of public schools and the factors associated with such access.
Methodology:
This is an analytical cross-sectional study conducted among 12-years schoolchildren of a Brazilian city with a large population size. The tests were performed by 24 trained and calibrated dentists with the aid of 24 annotators. Data collection occurred in 36 randomly selected public schools among the 89 schools of the city. Descriptive, univariate and multiple analyzes were conducted (OR/IC95%).
Result:
Of the 2,755 schoolchildren, 2,510 were included. Of these, 2,173 (86.6%) received oral hygiene guidelines. Access to guidelines for oral care was higher among male students and among those using private dental services or covenant. It was lower among those who used the service for dental treatment for over one year and among those who did not receive dental care at school, who reported a frequency of oral hygiene equal to once/day.
Conclusion:
Most of the students had access to guidelines for oral hygiene, with this access associated with variables related to personal determinants, health services and behaviors.
School health; child; oral health; health literacy