Effect of a single dental health care instruction and prophylaxis on gingivitis

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a single dental health instruction on gingivitis in an adult population. Ninety-eight army recruits from two military camps were randomly allocated to four groups: a control group, a group that received a professional prophylaxis, a group that received dental health care instruction and a group that had both a prophylaxis and dental health care instruction. Treatment effects were measured 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after the initial examinations. The single prophylaxis resulted in a small temporary improvement. The effect of the single dental health care instruction was also small, but lasted until the end of the trial. A single instruction plus prophylaxis resulted in the clearest improvement, which was still present after 3 months. It can be concluded that any single treatment should at least consist of dental health care instruction plus a prophylaxis.