COMPARISON OF VARIOUS MODALITIES OF SIMPLE PERIODONTAL THERAPY ON ORAL CLEANLINESS AND BLEEDING

550 Chinese employees of both sexes aged 25-44 from an industrial orga nisation participated in a 16-month longitudinal study. Subjects were divided into 4 groups: an oral hygiene group (group A), a scaling grou p (group B), an oral hygiene+scaling group (group C) and a control (gr oup D). The experimental subjects were examined at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 months, 10 months and 16 months. After 10 months, group A received s caling while group B was given oral hygiene instruction for the Ist ti me. The control group did not receive any treatment until completion o f the programme. Al 16 months, all 3 experimental groups had significa ntly lower plaque and bleeding scores than the control. The plaque and bleeding levels of the experimental groups were lower at all review a ppointments when compared with baseline. Some variations in the clinic al parameters were found between groups at 2 weeks, 4 months and 10 mo nths. The scaling;oral hygiene group showed the best response. Althoug h a proportion of subjects showed a substantial improvement in bleedin g scores following scaling, the significant resource implications in p roviding such treatment has to be considered in planning community hea lth programmes to promote periodontal health, wherein oral hygiene edu cation must still have the highest priority.