A good oral health is the state of mouth free of any disease affecting the oral cavity and its surrounding structures; oral health has remained as an integral part of individual’s general health and overall well-being. The study was conducted to evaluate effectiveness of planned teaching programme (PTP) on knowledge and practice regarding oral hygiene, among primary school children at selected schools of Kolhapur. Probability, Systematic random sampling technique was used to collect 60 samples. The study followed a quantitative evaluative survey approach with Pre experimental, one group pretest & posttest research design The data was collected by using selected socio demographic variables, structured knowledge questionnaire and structured observational checklist regarding oral hygiene. A PTP was administered to the samples after the pretest and a post test was conducted 7 days after administration of PTP. The result showed that, out of 60primary school children, In pretest majority of the participants 48 (80%) had average knowledge and 11 (18.34%) participants had poor knowledge and only 01(1.66%) participant had good knowledge, where as in posttest 46 (76.67%) participants had good knowledge, 14 (23.33%) participants had average knowledge and none of the participant had poor knowledge. In pretest, majority of the participants 53 (88.34%) showed fair practice and 07 (11.66%) participants had showed poor practice and none of the participants showed good practice, where as in posttest, 44 (73.34%) participants showed good practice and 16 (26.66%) participants had showed fair practice and none of the participant showed poor practice. The calculated paired‘t’ value (tcal = 15.66) was greater than tabulated value (ttab= 2.00). This indicated that the gain in knowledge score was statistically significant at p<0.05 level. The PTP on oral hygiene was effective in increasing the knowledge regarding oral hygiene among primary school children. The calculated paired ‘t’ value (tcal = 20.83) was greater than tabulated value ((ttab = 2.00). This indicated that the gain in knowledge score was statistically significant at p<0.05 level. The PTP on oral hygiene was effective in increasing the practice regarding oral hygiene among primary school children. The calculated Karl Pearson’s correlation value was (tcal=0.93). This indicated that correlation between knowledge and practice score was statistically significant at p<0.05 level. Therefore the findings revealed that there was a strong positive correlation between knowledge and practice regarding oral hygiene among primary school children. This proved that knowledge and practice was correlated to each other. When knowledge increased simultaneously practice also increased. There was significant association between pretest practice scores and selected socio-demographic variable like education of the father [χ2cal= 3.91, χ2tab= 3.84]. The calculated Chi-square value was higher than the tabulated value. This indicated that there was significant association between pretest practice scores and selected socio-demographic variables at 0.05 level of significance. This study findings revealed that the primary school children mostly had poor knowledge and practice in pretest whereas in posttest primary school children mostly had good and average knowledge and good and fair practice regarding oral hygiene. Hence, the planned teaching programme was effective in improving the knowledge and practice among primary school children regarding oral hygiene.
