Anganwadi workers as Oral Health Guides: An interventional study

Aim: This study was designed to evaluate if the Anganwadi worker can function as effective oral health guide subsequent to their oral health training. Material and Methods: A total of 50 Anganwadi workers were equally divided into study and control group. At the start, baseline information was obtained with the use of a questionnaire. An information booklet was prepared, including different dental topics. Intervention to the study group was provided in the form of training using the booklet and the oral health and disease color plate. For the control group no training was provided. Results: After, 1 month the questionnaire was administered again to both the groups. An overall, of 42.58% increase in the mean percentage of participants giving correct answers after the intervention was recorded. The results indicate an increase in dental knowledge among the study group while no change in the control group. The difference in the knowledge post‑intervention between the study and the control group was found to be statistically significant (for the “correct answers” t = 5.95, P = 0.0001; for “wrong answers” t = 3.23, P = 0.0002 and for “did not answer” t = 4.6205, P = 0.0001). Conclusion: Within the limits of this study, it can be concluded that training the Anganwadi workers can empower them to become oral health guide. This project can be considered as a pilot study based on which a bigger task of training the entire cohort of Anganwadi workers can be planned.