Objectives:

The objectives of this study were to characterize the implementation of toothbrushing and other oral health promotion activities in kindergartens and to identify the

aspects that influence the implementation of toothbrushing.

Methods:

Data were collected through an online questionnaire addressed to kindergarten teachers working in Portugal. The questionnaire included the characterization of the kindergarten, the educator, toothbrushing, and other measures. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using the non-parametric chi-square test (α=0.05).

Results:

The sample included 1618 kindergarten teachers, with an average age of 47.14 years (sd=9.975). Daily toothbrushing was performed in 40.6% of kindergartens. The main reasons for not brushing were the risk of disease transmission and limited human resources and space. A considerable percentage of kindergartens (43.8%) had never been visited by an oral health team. Toothbrushing was more frequent in kindergartens where the educators had been working for longer (p=0.004), oral health training was provided (p<0.001), and oral health teams were active (p<0.001).

Conclusions:

Toothbrushing was implemented in less than half of the Portuguese kindergartens and was fostered by the educators' training on oral health issues and by the action of oral health teams.

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