A Paradigmatic Model of Prevention of Oral Diseases and Education of Oral Health Promotion of Children and Adolescents in Iran: A Grounded Theory Methodology

Introduction: Oral health is a part of the general physical health. It is important to have healthy gums and teeth. Healthy teeth and gums are important for maintaining beauty and confidence, talking, chewing, and swallowing. The main strategy for preserving oral health is the implementation of health promotion interventions and various health education strategies, in accordance with the new learning methods and the most effective and shortest techniques to achieve the goal of promoting oral health. Methods: The present study employed qualitative research and grounded theory research method. In this method, the collected data were analyzed based on the three coding stages of Strauss and Corbin (1990). Interconnected concepts form an axis or component, and from them will come the categories. Finally, a theory is formed out of categories. Results: The data included 122 elementary concepts from which 52 components were extracted. The present study findings consist of five levels including: 14 components related to the underlying issues and challenges of oral health in children and adolescents (causal conditions) such as: unhealthy nutrition, specific diseases and medications, mothers' inappropriate health behaviours, economic and cultural poverty, lack of access to dental services, etc.; 11 components related to enabling and promoting oral health (strategic factors) such as: intervention through schools, audio-visual media, individual counselling, interviewing, etc.; 8 components related to the context of oral health promotion in children and adolescents (contextual factors); 9 components related to oral health promotion threats and limitations in children and adolescents (interfering factors); and 10 components related to improvements and successes in oral health (outcomes). They can provide relatively comprehensive data on developing a paradigmatic model of prevention of oral diseases and education of oral health promotion of children and adolescents in Iran. Conclusions: The present study results leads researchers to developing a paradigmatic model of prevention of oral diseases and education of oral health promotion of children and adolescents in Iran.