The Dental Care and Treatment of Periodontal Disease in Mental Deficient Adults

II. A Method and Effect of Oral Hygiene Instruction

Abstract

Our study was designed to establish a rational system for the dental care management and treatment of periodontal disease in mental deficient adults. In the previous report, the status of oral hygiene and periodontal disease in them were surveyed.
Subjects were 42 persons (aged 17-52, IQ from 72 to under 14) institutionalized for mental deficiency.
All staffs of the institution were educated to recognize the importance of plaque control, and learned brushing technique, the method of staining plaque and recording plaque chart. They instructed and helped the mental deficient adults in oral hygiene by brushing as daily trainings.
The plaque accumulation rate (P1. R), gingival index (G. I.) and pathological pocket rate (Po. R) were evaluated on every tooth except 3rd molar and the teeth with artificial crown at the time of the instruction and subsequent 2, 4 and 6 months.
The results were as follows:
1) P1. R was remarkably improved during the first 2 months (51.9%-29.3%). However, during the subsequent 4 months, P1. R was not changed significantly.
2) G. I. was decreased remarkably from 1.37 to 0.92 during the first 2 months and 0.79 at subsequent 4 months with statistical significance.
3) Po. R were decreased from 32.1% to 21.9% at the first 2 months and 17.4% at subsequent 4 months.
5) The correlation between PI. R and G. I recognized before oral hygiene instruction was not found after the first 2 months, but again found apparent at subsequent 2 months.
The results of this study clearly showed that the oral hygiene instruction is very important for mental deficient adults, and it was obviously effective that auxiliary and helper should recognize the importance of plaque control and perform repeatedly oral hygiene instruction to them as daily training.