The influence of prophylaxis programmes on oral hygiene in adults and schoolchildren

The improvement of dental hygiene is considered to be one of the most impor tant measures in dental health education. Hence, it was the aim of the pres ent study to investigate the influence of two similar preventive programmes on oral hygiene performed in adults and schoolchildren. In the adult study , the oral hygiene indices PI (Quigley-Hein) and API (Lange) could be signi ficantly improved after six months by an individualized preventive programm e performed every three months. Besides repeated instructions and motivatio ns in oral hygiene, the programme included profesional toothcleaning. In co ntrast, nine-year old schoolchildren showed no improvement in the oral hygi ene indices PI and PBI (Muhlemann and Son) after applying a similar program me over three years. For the PI, even a deterioration from 1.86 at the begi nning of the study to 2.65 at the final examination was seen. Other authors were more successful by applying a programme without professional toothcle aning but with inclusion of the parents. It is therefore concluded that chi ldren should be educated to oral self-care by including their parents and b y taking their status of psychological development into account.