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Health promotion aims to ensure that the population has improved living and health conditions, and schools are appropriate environments in which to do this. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of health promotion in terms of oral health in special schools for mentally disable pupils in Brazil. The study was cross-sectional and adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach, using triangulation methods to observe the reality. An epidemiological survey was performed in order to analyse the oral health status; a semi-structured questionnaire and participative observation were used for the qualitative analysis of the health promotion activities undertaken in the schools; case studies were carried out to evaluate the profile of oral health status in the context of the schools. The sample was comprised of 383 school-children aged 2–19, stratified among 7 schools, Curitiba/Paraná/Brazil. The analysis was performed by means of frequency distribution and associations between variables, using the SPSS 16.0 program. The oral health status prevalences in the population studied were dental caries, 49.3%; bleeding gums, 23.8%; dental trauma, 11% and toothache in the last 3 months, 17,8%. Dental caries and bleeding gums experience was associated with the level of the mother's education (p<0.00) and age group (p<0.00). Dental trauma and toothache in the last 3 months were associated with the level of the mother's education (p<0.00 and p<0.00, respectively). Analysis of the dimensions of health promotion demonstrated that health is being promoted in all the schools studied. However, the analysis of oral health indicators per school revealed a possible interference of socio-demographic aspects in the results. It was concluded that the analysed special schools for the mentally disabled promote health. However, the socio-demographic profile of this population appears to have greater influence on vulnerability than the school context in relation to oral health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: The school environment may positively influence student health behaviours and learning. This study aimed to investigate the association between cities' quality of education and adolescent students' oral health-related behaviours., Methods: Cross-sectional study using data of the 2015 Brazilian National Adolescent School-Based Health Survey and other public databases. The sample was composed of adolescents (N = 23,674) from public schools of the 27 Brazilian state capitals. Outcomes were four oral health-related behaviours: toothbrushing, sweets and soft-drink consumption, and dental visits. The explanatory variable was the cities' quality of education, measured by the Brazilian Basic Education Development Index. Covariates were individual (sociodemographic) and contextual (socioeconomic, oral health coverage and oral health-promoting schools). Multilevel logistic regression was performed considering two levels: individual (adolescents) and contextual (city)., Results: The prevalence of the outcomes were: low daily toothbrushing frequency 6.7% (95% CI 6.0-7.4); high weekly sweets consumption 41.5% (95% CI 40.3-42.7); high weekly soft-drink consumption 28.5% (95% CI 27.2-29.9); and low frequency of annual dental visits 31.2% (95% CI 30.1-32.3). In the adjusted models, cities whose schools had higher scores of education quality were more likely to have students with low toothbrushing frequency and high frequency of sweets consumption., Conclusion: The cities' quality of education was associated with unhealthy oral health-related behaviours, particularly the frequency of toothbrushing and sweets consumption. Therefore, appropriate health promotion strategies as well as high-quality education are needed in schools., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry.)