title: Compliance improvement in periodontal maintenance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the influence of efforts applied to modify the patients' behavior towards periodontal maintenance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were classified into three groups: Complete Compliance (participation in all visits), Irregular Compliance (irregular participation, one or more missing appointments), and Noncompliance (abandoned or never returned to the program). Complete compliers received usual procedures of the maintenance visit. The irregular compliers and non-compliers received usual procedures and strategies such as reminding next visit, informing patients on both periodontal disease and importance of maintenance, motivating the patient who showed an improvement in compliance. Thus, 137 patients were observed for 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The degree of compliance has increased significantly during this period (p=0.001). No association was detected between age or gender and compliance degree.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results have shown that the intervention applied had a favorable influence on the patients' compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Dental School, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. vecarvalho@gmail.com
authors.forename: Verônica Franco
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Osmar Shizuo
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Carlos Cheque
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Bernardo
authors.forename: Cláudio Mendes
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pannuti
authors.forename: Marco Antonio Paupério
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Georgetti
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Micheli
authors.forename: Francisco Emílio
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Pustiglioni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D032763:Behavior Control; D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055113:Chronic Periodontitis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003728:Dental Calculus / Q000517:prevention & control; D003777:Dental Prophylaxis; D012534:Dental Scaling; D005260:Female; D005460:Fluorides, Topical / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005889:Gingival Recession / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000517:prevention & control; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000517:prevention & control; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D005460:Fluorides, Topical