Implementation and Evaluation of a Comprehensive Dental Hygiene Curriculum in Rural Ethiopian High Schools: Impact on Oral Health Knowledge and Behaviors

Rural Ethiopian high schools often lack comprehensive dental hygiene curricula, leading to poor oral health knowledge among students. A pre-post intervention design was employed, with baseline and post-intervention surveys conducted. Data analysis used t-tests for mean differences and confidence intervals for estimating effect sizes. Students showed an improvement of $\Delta = 0.45$ (95% CI: 0.28-0.62) in oral health knowledge scores after the intervention, indicating a significant positive impact. The comprehensive dental hygiene curriculum led to notable improvements in students' oral health knowledge and behaviors. Schools should integrate similar curricula into their existing educational programmes to enhance oral health outcomes among rural youth. oral health, high school education, rural Ethiopia