NCT04218994

The Effect of Instructed Dental Flossing on Interdental Gingival Bleeding: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 42 (actual)
• Sponsor: Tufts University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

In this study, half of the participants will be asked to floss as normal, while the other half will receive professional instructions on flossing from a dentist. The investigators want to see if the participants who have professional flossing instructions are able to remove plaque in between the teeth more effectively, and have less gum bleeding over time. The investigators also want to see if participants who receive professional flossing instructions get better at the technique over time, and if they can match the dentist's skill by the end of the study.

Detailed description

Primary Aim: To determine whether subjects instructed with a specific flossing technique have less gingival inflammation as evidenced by bleeding on probing (BoP) than subjects without flossing instructions. Secondary Aim: To compare the effect of flossing by a dental professional with a patient's self-flossing following instruction in removing interdental plaque. Secondary Aim: To compare the completeness of plaque removal by the subjects instructed during the initial visit (Group A \[test\]) with their completeness at the final (fourth) visit. Secondary Aim: To compare the clinician's completeness of plaque removal at the fourth visit with the completeness of plaque removal by the subjects in both groups (Groups A \[test\] and B \[control\]). Each group will be analyzed separately. In Group A, a comparison of the plaque removal by the subjects and by the clinician will made with respect to the completeness at the first visit versus the final visit.

Conditions

• Gingival Inflammation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Flossing technique	Subjects instructed on flossing technique

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-01-08
• Primary completion: 2018-12-02
• Completion: 2018-12-02
• First posted: 2020-01-06
• Last updated: 2020-01-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States