The effectiveness of an individually tailored oral health educational programme on oral hygiene behaviour in patients with periodontal disease: a blinded randomized-controlled clinical trial (one-year follow-up).
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of an individually tailored oral health educational programme for oral hygiene self-care in patients with chronic periodontitis compared with the standard treatment.


METHODS
A randomized, evaluator-blinded, controlled trial with two different active treatments were used with 113 subjects (60 females and 53 males) randomly allocated to an experimental or a control group. The individually tailored oral health educational programme was based on cognitive behavioural principles and the individual tailoring for each participant was based on participants' thoughts, intermediate, and long-term goals, and oral health status. The effect of the programmes on gingivitis [gingival index (GI)], oral hygiene [plaque indices (PlI) and self-report], and participants' global rating of treatment was evaluated 3 and 12 months after oral health education and non-surgical treatment.


RESULTS
Between baseline and the 12-month follow-up, the experimental group improved both GI and PlI more than the control group. The mean gain-score difference was 0.27 for global GI [99.2% confidence interval (CI): 0.16-0.39, p<0.001] and 0.40 for proximal GI (99.2% CI: 0.27-0.53, p<0.001). The mean gain-score difference was 0.16 for global PlI (99.2% CI: 0.03-0.30, p=0.001), and 0.26 for proximal PlI (99.2% CI: 0.10-0.43, p<0.001). The subjects in the experimental group reported a higher frequency of daily inter-dental cleaning and were more certain that they could maintain the attained level of behaviour change.


CONCLUSIONS
The individually tailored oral health educational programme was efficacious in improving long-term adherence to oral hygiene in periodontal treatment. The largest difference was for interproximal surfaces.
Jönsson
B
B
Department of Public Health and Caring Science, Uppsala University, Sweden. birgitta.jonsson@lul.se
Ohrn
K
K
Oscarson
N
N
Lindberg
P
P
D055113:Chronic Periodontitis / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012534:Dental Scaling; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009911:Oral Hygiene Index; D010512:Periodontal Index; D016037:Single-Blind Method