title: Self-assessed bleeding and plaque as methods for improving gingival health in adolescents.
abstract: The aim of this longitudinal study was to compare the effectiveness, in terms of cognitive and clinical changes, of two oral self-care promoting interventions based on a self-assessment of bleeding from gums or of presence of plaque. Adolescent students (age 14.0 + 0.7 years) from two health districts in Helsinki, Finland, participated in this one-year study. The self-assessment of bleeding group (n = 172) recorded bleeding during tooth brushing and inter-proximal cleaning with toothpicks on a single session. The self-assessment of plaque group (n = 156) recorded the presence of plaque with disclosing dye. Both programmes resulted in comparable clinical improvement in bleeding on probing over 9 months. Increased awareness of gingivitis was associated with clinical improvement. The subjects' socio-economic background, baseline gingival health status and age were statistically significantly associated with gingival health improvement during the follow-up. The results support earlier reports on self-assessment and suggest that both self-assessment approaches are beneficial for promoting gingival health in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kallio
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uutela
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nordblad
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alvesalo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murtomaa
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Croucher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000367:Age Factors; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005884:Gingival Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010512:Periodontal Index; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data