The Effect of Automated Messaging on the Level of Oral Hygiene in Adolescent Orthodontic Patients: A Randomized Control Trial

Abstract

Text message reminders have been shown to be effective at increasing oral hygiene compliance, and it has also been shown that increasing the frequency of reminders improves compliance. The purpose of the present study was to determine if automated text messages sent daily to adolescent orthodontic patients were more effective at improving oral hygiene than those receiving weekly reminders.

A double blind, prospective, randomized clinical trial was performed to evaluate the effects of automated messages on oral hygiene. Subjects were recruited from patients undergoing orthodontic treatment at the Texas A&M University College of Dentistry Department of Orthodontics. They were being treated with a variety of fixed full appliances in both arches. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a once a week text message group or a daily text message group. There were 52 females and 27 males who participated in the study. The daily group had significantly greater increases in oral hygiene compliance.

The daily score increases were 52%, 19%, and 21% for the BI, PI, and GI. The weekly score increases were 30%, 13% and 14% for the BI, PI, and GI. Adolescents who completed our survey preferred more frequent messages and found that decreasing treatment time was the most effective type of text message received. Daily text messages were more effective at improving oral hygiene than weekly text messages.