Effect of controlled oral hygiene procedures on caries and periodontal disease in adults

Abstract

Abstract The present investigation was carried out to determine if the occurrence of caries and the progression of periodontitis can be prevented in adults, and maintained at a high level of oral hygiene by regularly repeated oral hygiene instructions and prophylaxis. An attempt was also made to study the progression of dental diseases in individuals who received no special oral hygiene instruction but regularly received dental care of a traditional type. Two groups of individuals from one geographic site were recruited in 1971‐72 for the trial; 375 were assigned to a test and 180 to a control group. A baseline examination revealed that the socio‐economic status, the oral hygiene status, the incidence of gingivitis and the caries experience were similar among the test and control participants prior to the start of the study. During the subsequent 3‐year period, the control patients were seen regularly once a year and given traditional dental care. The test group participants, on the other hand, were seen once every 2 months during the first 2 years and once every 3 months during the third year. On an individual basis they were instructed in a proper oral hygiene technique and given a careful dental prophylaxis including scaling and root planing. Each prophylactic session was handled by a dental hygienist. A re‐examination was carried out towards the end of the third treatment year. The results of the trial clearly showed that it is possible, by regularly repeated tooth cleaning instruction and prophylaxis, to stimulate adults to adopt proper oral hygiene habits. The findings also demonstrated that persons who utilized proper oral hygiene techniques during a 3‐year period had negligible signs of gingivitis, suffered no loss of periodontal tissue attachment, and developed practically no new carious lesions. The control patients, who during the same period received merely symptomatic treatment, suffered from gingivitis, lost periodontal tisssue support and developed several new as well as recurrent, carious lesions. These results indicate that dental treatment is a highly ineffective means of curing caries and periodontal disease.