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Effect of a single dental health care instruction and prophylaxis on gingivitis
Author(s) -
Tan H. H.,
Saxton C. A.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1978.tb01144.x
Subject(s) - medicine , gingivitis , dental prophylaxis , dental health , dentistry , population , health care , dental care , antibiotic prophylaxis , physical therapy , family medicine , oral hygiene , environmental health , economics , economic growth , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , antibiotics
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a single dental health instruction on gingivitis in an adult population. Ninety‐eight army recruits from two military‐camps were randomly allocated to four groups, a control group, a group that received a professional prophylaxis, a group that received dental health care instruction and a group that had both a prophylaxis and dental health care instruction. Treatment effects were measured 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after the initial examinations. The single prophylaxis resulted in a small temporary improvement. The effect of the single dental health care instruction was also small, but lasted until the end of the trial. A single instruction plus prophylaxis resulted in the clearest improvement, which was still present after 3 months. It can be concluded that any single treatment should at least consist of dental health care instruction plus a prophylaxis.