Dietary and oral hygiene intervention in secondary school pupils

Background. To enhance the well-being of secondary school pupils by improving their eating habits, especially school-based eating, a joint project, including oral health intervention, was conducted during the academic year 2007-2008. Aim. The aim was to study the effect of a dietary intervention on schoolchildren's eating habits and laser fluorescence (LF) values of teeth. Methods. Twelve schools in three cities, Finland, were randomly assigned to be intervention and control schools. Two of the intervention schools were further assigned in the instruction of oral hygiene. In 2007 and 2008, the pupils (n = 739 and 647, respectively) answered a questionnaire on dietary and oral health habits, and LF values on the occlusal surfaces of molars and premolars were determined. Results. The frequency of eating a warm meal and drinking water at school to quench thirst increased in the intervention schools but decreased in the control schools (P < 0.001 and P = 0.005, respectively). LF values in molars decreased in schools with dietary intervention only (P = 0.024). Conclusions. The 1-year dietary intervention was long enough to show improvement in eating habits and in habits for quenching thirst, and some decrease in the LF values of molars.