Intra-oral camera and oral health instructions

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  A proof of principle study to evaluate the provision of a pictorial report following dental oral hygiene instruction to aid participants improving their gum health over a 4 week period.

• IRAS ID

  265051

• Contact name

  Nicola West

• Contact email

  N.X.West@Bristol.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Bristol

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 4 months, 13 days

• Research summary

  Research Summary
  Many people suffer from problems with their teeth and gum health which can impact on their daily life. Dentists can provide oral hygiene instruction (OHI) to patients in several ways, but the normal method is by giving patients instructions verbally. We would like to assess whether providing patients with an individual report containing pictures of their teeth and gums, taken by the dentist using an intra-oral camera (a camera used inside the mouth) along verbal OHI can improve oral hygiene more effectively than just providing patients with verbal OHI alone.

  Sumary of Results
  This study was a pilot study in 22 participants with early stage gum disease (gingivitis) in which oral photographs of participants gingivitis were taken using an intra oral camera. Half of the participants were then given standard oral hygiene instruction (control group), and the other half were given standard oral hygiene with the addition of the oral photographs which were used to better explain to this test group the problem areas and how to best clean them. At the start of the study both groups were assessed for gum health (gum inflammation and dental plaque scores), and had similar levels of each. All participants returned to the study site after 4 weeks, a further set of oral photos was taken and scores of gum inflammation and plaque were recorded. Oral hygiene instruction was delivered by one dentist, and the oral health scores by another dentist who did not know how the oral hygiene had been delivered to each participant. Study results showed that participants who had received oral hygiene advice with the use of the oral photographs of their mouths improved their gum inflammation and plaque scores more than those in the control group who had received standard oral hygiene advice only. At the end of the study both groups were given copies of their oral photographs and further advice about oral hygiene. In addition to this the study tested whether it was possible for a dentist to score dental plaque from the oral photographs as accurately as they did from the participants when they were in the clinic. A third dentist scored the plaque levels from the photographs and these scores were compared with those obtained in the clinic. The results showed that scores were comparable. The results of this small study indicate that using an oral photographs that show where patients are not cleaning their teeth and gums enough helps the patient understand better what they are trying to achieve and bigger improvements in oral hygiene should result. It also shows that it is possible to accurately detect plaque levels from a camera image which may help dentists in the future as these provide a more comprehensive record of plaque distribution than standard scoring methods

• REC name

  South East Scotland REC 01

• REC reference

  19/SS/0114

• Date of REC Opinion

  31 Oct 2019

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion