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“Spontaneous” oral hygiene: a predictor for future preventive behavior?
Author(s) -
Alcouffe Francois
Publication year - 1989
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.1600-0528.1989.tb00003.x
Subject(s) - medicine , oral hygiene , index (typography) , hygiene , dentistry , population , environmental health , pathology , world wide web , computer science
The aim of this study was to establish whether a patient's “spontaneous” hygiene could be a reliable predictor of his or her tendency to maintain a certain permanent level of hygiene. The sample comprised 147 private periodontal patients whose plaque indices were recorded before (index 1) and after (index 2) a standardized hygiene program was carried out. According to their initial indices the patients were distributed in 10 classes (Class 0: from 0 to 10% using O'Leary's plaque index, class 1: from 11% to 20%, etc.). The two biggest classes were > 50% (48.3% of the subjects of the whole sample belonged to classes 5 and 6). A coefficient (IC) =There was a marked difference in behavior between patients whose initial plaque index was <50% and those whose initial index was >50%. The former improved noticeably, whereas the latter did not. Within the limits of the investigated population the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) initial plaque index and possibilities of improvement are correlated; 2) initial plaque index, recorded prior to any periodontal treatment, may be a reliable predictor of a patient's future compliance