Web-Based Oral Health Education Improves Knowledge and Reduces Debris Index in Orthodontic Patients

Orthodontic patients face challenges in maintaining oral hygiene due to orthodontic appliances such as brackets and bands that complicate the cleaning process. A lack of knowledge about oral hygiene maintenance during orthodontic treatment is a major factor contributing to a high debris index and an increased risk of caries. A web-based educational media was developed to enhance knowledge and reduce the debris index among orthodontic patients. To develop an innovative, feasible, and effective web-based educational media to improve knowledge and decrease the debris index in orthodontic patients. This study employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach with a pre-experimental onegroup pretest–posttest design. The sample consisted of 25 orthodontic patients selected using total sampling. Each respondent completed a questionnaire and underwent debris index examinations before and after the intervention using the web-based educational media. Data analysis included the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) to measure inter-expert reliability, Aiken’s V to assess content validity, and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test to determine differences before and after the intervention. The expert validation test of the web-based educational media obtained an average score of 91.67% (feasible) with a p-value = 0.00. before the intervention, the mean debris index score was 2.68 (poor) and the mean knowledge score was 75.2 (fair). after the intervention, the debris index score decreased to 0.51 (good) and the knowledge score increased to 94.8 (good). this product was proven to be effective with p = 0.001 for knowledge and p = 0.000 for the debris index. The web-based educational media demonstrated potential feasibility and effectiveness as an educational tool to improve knowledge and reduce the debris index among orthodontic patients.