The effects of the repetitive and reinforced oral hygiene motivation methods on plaque and inflammation markers of adolescents with fixed appliances

Objective: high standard of oral hygiene is essential for patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment. the aim of this study is to investigate whether the repetitive and reinforced oral hygiene motivation methods (ohmm) will result in lower plaque index (pi), gingival index (gi) and bleeding on probing (bop) scores in adolescents with fixed orthodontic appliances. method: the study group, composed of 90 patients, was divided into three groups; group i: only verbal information (n=30), group ii: verbal information with demonstration on model and self application by the patient under supervision (n=30), group iii: verbal information using the illustration catalogue and self application by the patient under supervision (n=30). the periodontal parameters (pi, gi and bop) were recorded at the baseline, first and fourth week after. the patients received the same ohmm repetitively on the first and fourth weeks. results: all of the groups have shown significant decreases in parameters when compared to the baseline values at the fourth week (p<0.05). the gi, pi and bop values were significantly lower in group iii than the other groups (p<0.05) at the fourth week. discussion: we suggest that the repetitive and reinforced ohmm in this study with the application under the supervision of the dentists/orthodontists can be realized easily in adolescents. these ohmm should be applied with tool(s) and equipment(s) which is (are) familiar to the adolescents and other target groups.