Assessment of School-Based Oral Health Education on Access to Dental Care among Urban Poor Youth in Tanzania

Urban youth in Tanzania often face barriers to accessing dental care due to financial constraints. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs) with participants aged 15-20 years. Data analysis revealed a significant increase in the proportion of students who sought oral health services after participating in the educational programme: from 40% to 60%. The school-based oral health education programme had a positive effect on increasing access to dental care among urban poor youth. Further implementation and evaluation are recommended to sustain these improvements. Treatment effect was estimated with logit(pᵢ)=β₀+β^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.