ObjectiveThis study was to explore the effect of HBM-based education and to help establish the measures on improving oral health status in deaf-dumb students.

MethodsA total of 152 students aged 9-18 from two deaf-mute schools in Jing'an District， Shanghai were selected. The study subjects were randomly assigned to either experimental or control group. Students in the control group received oral health education with sign language every 6 months， and students in the experimental group received oral health education based on HBM. Before and two years after the intervention， data were collected by oral examinations and questionnaires. SPSS 22.0 software package was used for statistical processing of the data.

ResultsBefore the intervention， there was no significant difference between the control group and the experimental group in caries rate， soft scale detection rate， calculus detection rate， caries average， debris index and calculus index. After the intervention， the caries rate （47.3% vs 68.5%）， soft scale detection rate （77.0% vs 91.8%）， and calculus detection rate （37.8% vs 58.9%） in the experimental group were all significantly （P<0.05） lower than those in the control group. After the intervention， caries average， debris index and calculus index in the experimental group were 1.93±2.25， 0.55±0.45， and 0.37±0.50， respectively， while the corresponding values in the control group were 2.82±3.24， 1.17±0.47， and 0.41±0.44. The difference in debris index between two groups was statistically significant （P<0.05）.

ConclusionOral health education for deaf-mute students based on Health Belief Model（HBM）shows a good effect on improving the oral health. Further oral health education as well as the implementation of intervention measures such as using local fluoride， pit and fissure sealing， and early dental caries filling， are needed to effectively control the occurrence and development of dental caries in deaf-mute students.