Abstract
Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the state of oral health care among special school personnels in an attempt to provide some information on the improvement of the oral health care of students with disabilities who would be under the first hand influence of school personnels. Methods : The subjects in this study were personnels who were selected by random selection in five different special schools located in the city of Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. A self-administered survey was conducted in person from July 5 to 14 after the purpose of this study was explained. Results : 1. Concerning their general characteristics, the level of oral health knowledge was high in the personnel whose career is 5 years more, and the younger personnels had a better oral health knowledge, and the men were more knowledgeable than the women. 2. As to oral health education experience, the rate of the respondents who ever received oral health education stood at 35.3 percent. In relation to the frequency of oral health education, the biggest group that accounted for 58.2 percent received that education once. As for the route of education, the largest group that represented 52.7 percent received that education at dental hospitals or clinics. In relation to satisfaction with oral health education, the greatest group that accounted for 38.5 percent were dissatisfied with that education. 3. As for an intention of receiving oral health education in the future, the biggest group that accounted for 60.9 percent intended to receive that education if they would have free time, and the largest group that represented 47.7 percent believed that oral health education should be conducted by dental hygienists. 4. Concerning their general characteristics, the level of oral health promotion behavior according to age in both bushing and supplies of oral health care was high in forties-1.89 point and 3.33 point, and that in regular visit to a dental clinic was the highest in twenties for 2.58 point, and that in dietary control was the highest in twenties for 2.59 point. 5. Their oral health knowledge had a significant positive correlation to their toothbrushing, regular dental clinic visit and dietary control that were the subfactors of oral health promotion behavior. 6. As for the impact of oral health promotion behavior on oral health knowledge, toothbrushing exerted the greatest influence on that(${\beta}$=0.306, p<0.001). Conclusions : Appropriate institutional measures should be taken to let dental hygienists who are expert in oral health care provide incremental oral health care for students and adults with disabilities in educational institutions and facilities for the disabled, and the development of oral health education programs is urgently required to offer systematic oral health education for not only students with disabilities but their teachers and guardians.