Comparison of effectiveness on knowledge improvement before and after the oral health education: focusing on foreign students

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate comparison of the effectiveness on knowledge improvement before and after the oral health education focusing on foreign students. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was filled out by 40 foreign students in Sun Moon University from June 2 to September 30, 2014. The experimental group had an online oral health education and the control group had an off line education. The questionnaire consisted of oral health(10 items), toothbrushing(10 items), dental caries(10 items), periodontal disease(5 items), tooth sensitivity(5 items), oral cancer(6 items), and smoking(5 items). The data were analyzed by SPSS Win 18.0 program. Results: Knowledge scores of online education increased to average 1.257 points, and that of offline education was average of 2.56 points. There were statistically significant results for toothbrushing, dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth sensitivity, oral cancer and TMD except for smoking in offline education group. Conclusions: This study suggests that the offline oral health education is more effective than online oral health education.