Original Article Effect of School Oral Health Promotion Programme on dental health and health behaviour in Vietnamese schoolchildren Thuy Trang Nguyen a , Bui Bao Tien Nguyen a , Minh Son Nguyen a,b,* , Jana Olak b , Mare Saag b a Danang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy, Danang, Viet Nam b Institute of Dentistry, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia article info Article history: Received 15 April 2016 Received in revised form 22 August 2016 Accepted 7 September 2016 Available online xxx Keywords: Dental caries Oral health Oral hygiene Schoolchildren abstract Objective: This study was designed to (1) determine dental caries and gingivitis and (2) assess the effect of oral health behaviour and self-perception on dental caries experience of Vietnamese schoolchildren aged 8e10 years old, involved in the School Oral Health Promotion Programme (SOHPP). Methods: A total of 556 schoolchildren were examined clinically for dental caries, gingival and oral hygiene status following the WHO's “Oral Health Survey” (1997) guidelines and were asked about oral health behaviour and self-perception related to dental caries. Results: 87.9% of schoolchildren had experienced dental caries (dft þ DFT ¼ 4.1 ± 3.2), 76.8% had gingivitis. 8-year-old schoolchildren experienced a significantly higher prev- alence of caries compared to 9- and 10-year-olds (p ¼ 0.007). Good oral hygiene was observed in 13.5% of schoolchildren; 90% brushed their teeth at least once a day; 60% had visited a dentist during last 12 months. No significant difference was found in oral hy- giene behaviours related to reducing dental caries. The odds of high dental caries level dft þ DFT>6 was significantly associated with schoolchildren's self-perception of “I am afraid of having a dental check-up.” (OR ¼ 1.7, p ¼ 0.012), “I often feel discomfort due to toothache during the last 12 months.” (OR ¼ 1.9, p ¼ 0.001), and consumption of milk with sugar  1 time/day (OR ¼ 1.6, p ¼ 0.040). Conclusion: Although the caries experience was at moderate level, there is the high prev- alence of dental caries and gingivitis status among the Vietnamese schoolchildren due to lack of oral self-care and infrequent dental visits. The positive contents of SOHPP have not yet improved oral health behaviour of schoolchildren. © 2016 Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Institute of Dentistry, University of Tartu, Raekoja Plats 6, 51003 Tartu, Estonia. E-mail address: minhson1883@gmail.com (M.S. Nguyen). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Pediatric Dental Journal journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pdj pediatric dental journal xxx (2016) 1 e7 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pdj.2016.09.001 0917-2394/© 2016 Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article in press as: Nguyen TT, et al., Effect of School Oral Health Promotion Programme on dental health and health behaviour in Vietnamese schoolchildren, Pediatric Dental Journal (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pdj.2016.09.001