The effect of using mobile applications for improving oral hygiene in patients with orthodontic fixed appliances: a randomised controlled trial

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of using mobile applications active reminders to improve oral hygiene in comparison to verbal oral hygiene instructions. DESIGN: Two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial. SETTING: orthodontic clinics at two branches of a university hospitals of the college of dentistry of Riyadh Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-four 12-year-old and older subjects. METHOD: Subjects undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances were randomly assigned to one of two groups using simple randomisation. Group I: subjects received a mobile application that sends active reminders of oral hygiene three times a day (n = 22). Group II: subjects received verbal oral hygiene instructions verbally during their routine orthodontic visits (n = 22). Two primary outcomes were assessed using plaque index (PI) and gingival index (GI) for Ramfjord teeth to evaluate the level of oral hygiene at baseline and after 4 weeks. RESULTS: Mean differences for PI and GI for group I were reduced from T1 to T2 (P < 0.05, P < 0.05) but did not significantly change for group II (P > 0.05, P > 0.05). Both PI and GI significantly reduced for group I compared to group II between T1 and T2 (P < 0.05, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: PI and GI all significantly decreased after 4 weeks of using active reminders of oral hygiene instructions on mobile application compared to verbal oral hygiene instructions. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov with number: NCT03109769.