Abstract
Aim: To evaluate an oral health awareness campaign in an adult population.
Design/Setting: Four workplaces in north-east London were selected, matched in two pairs and randomly allocated to test and control groups. Completion occurred in 1995.
Subjects: 98 volunteer employees in good general health.
Interventions: Two oral examinations were carried out, six weeks apart. The test group received the programme immediately after baseline examination and the controls after the second visit.
Main outcome measures: Gingival bleeding on probing (BOP) and probing depths (PD) were measured on each occasion using a controlled pressure probe.
Results: The mean percentage of sites with BOP per subject reduced from 56% to 25% in the test group, while remaining static in the control group at 46% to 48%. The mean percentage of sites probing 4 mm and above per subject reduced from 38% to 25% in the test group and from 28% to 25% in the control group. These differences between groups were statistically significant when submitted to analysis of covariance (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: The study showed the clinical effectiveness of a workplace-based oral health awareness campaign, which is ideally suited to the skills and resources of the primary care dental team
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Fishwick, M., Ashley, F. & Wilson, R. Can a workplace preventive programme affect periodontal health?. Br Dent J 184, 290–293 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4809605
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4809605