GoPerio - impact of a personalized video and an automated two-way text-messaging system in oral hygiene motivation: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Antigingivitis and Antiplaque Effects of Oral Probiotic Containing the Streptococcus salivarius M18 Strain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

We aimed to assess the effect of oral probiotic containing the Streptococcus salivarius M18 strain on gingival inflammation, bleeding on probing, and oral biofilm. Sixty-one consenting participants aged between 18 and 25 with gingivitis were recruited in this double-blind, parallel-group study and randomly divided into the probiotic group (n = 31) and the placebo group (n = 30). Fifty-seven participants completed the entire study protocol, 27 in the probiotic group and 30 in the placebo group. The outcomes were assessed after 4 weeks of intervention and 4 weeks of follow-up. There was a significant decrease in the Gingival Index, with the effect size of 0.58 [95%CI 0.05-1.10], and Turesky modification of the Quigley and Hein Plaque Index, with the effect size of 0.55 [95%CI: 0.02-1.07], in the probiotic group after the intervention. However, after a 4-week follow-up, the only significant treatment outcome was improved gingival condition according to the Gingival Index. The Gingival Bleeding Index also decreased significantly in the probiotic group after the intervention period; after the follow-up, this parameter did not differ significantly in both groups from the baseline values. In the placebo group, there were no significant improvements in the assessed parameters throughout this study. No serious side effects were registered. Within the limitations of this study, we conclude that the use of oral probiotic containing the Streptococcus salivarius M18 strain resulted in a significant improvement in gingival condition and oral hygiene level in young adults with gingivitis. Trial registration NCT05727436. Funding: none.

Behavioral Interventions on Periodontitis Patients to Improve Oral Hygiene: A Systematic Review

This systematic review aimed to investigate the impact of different psychological models, strategies, and methods to improve plaque control and/or gingival inflammation in patients with periodontal diseases. Methods: The PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Embase online databases were explored to identify relevant studies published before October 2022. Articles investigating the effects of different psychological approaches and intervention strategies on periodontitis patients’ oral hygiene (OH) behavioral change were screened. Results: 5460 articles were identified, and 21 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. In total, 2 studies tested audio-visual modalities, and the remaining 19 publications involved six psychological models of health-related behavioral interventions, including Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Health Action Process Approach, Leventhal’s self-regulatory theory, Motivational Interviewing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. A meta-analysis of the results was not carried out due to the high heterogeneity among the interventions. Conclusions: Considering the limitations of the available studies, psychological interventions based on social cognitive models that combine some of the techniques of this model (goal setting, planning, self-monitoring, and feedback) may improve OH in periodontitis patients, having a positive impact on periodontal clinical outcomes. Delivering cognitive behavioral therapy in combination with motivational interviewing may result in an improvement in OH as evaluated by decreasing plaque and bleeding scores.

mHealth in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe: A systematic review comparing the use and availability of mHealth approaches in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe

Background

mHealth can help with healthcare service delivery for various health issues, but there's a significant gap in the availability and use of mHealth systems between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, despite the ongoing digitalization of the global healthcare system.

Objective

This work aims to compare and investigate the use and availability of mHealth systems in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, and identify gaps in current mHealth development and implementation in both regions.

Methods

The study adhered to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines for article search and selection to ensure an unbiased comparison between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Four databases (Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and PubMed) were used, and articles were evaluated based on predetermined criteria. Details on the mHealth system type, goal, patient type, health concern, and development stage were collected and recorded in a Microsoft Excel worksheet.

Results

The search query produced 1020 articles for sub-Saharan Africa and 2477 articles for Europe. After screening for eligibility, 86 articles for sub-Saharan Africa and 297 articles for Europe were included. To minimize bias, two reviewers conducted the article screening and data retrieval. Sub-Saharan Africa used SMS and call-based mHealth methods for consultation and diagnosis, mainly for young patients such as children and mothers, and for issues such as HIV, pregnancy, childbirth, and child care. Europe relied more on apps, sensors, and wearables for monitoring, with the elderly as the most common patient group, and the most common health issues being cardiovascular disease and heart failure.

Conclusion

Wearable technology and external sensors are heavily used in Europe, whereas they are seldom used in sub-Saharan Africa. More efforts should be made to use the mHealth system to improve health outcomes in both regions, incorporating more cutting-edge technologies like wearables internal and external sensors. Undertaking context-based studies, identifying determinants of mHealth systems use, and considering these determinants during mHealth system design could enhance mHealth availability and utilization.

Evaluation of the preventive care effectiveness in the adults with odontogenic infection given social and hygienic risk factors

Relevance. Odontogenic infection is one of the most important problems of dental science. The variety of anti-inflammatory oral hygiene products determines the need for targeted selection of preventive toothpastes and rinses, balms, foams, elixirs, as well as monitoring and training the algorithm of hygienic measures for a patient with an odontogenic infection. The aim of the study was to study the hygienic status of the adult population for the selection of individual oral hygiene products for odontogenic infection, taking into account social and hygienic factors.

Materials and methods. The study examined the prevalence of odontogenic infection in the adult population to determine the need for professional care and dental education. The study involved 198 people without somatic pathology, who were allocated into four groups according to the performed oral care and taking into account the dental status and the intensity of oral microbiota formation in the adult population. The patients were followed-up every week for one month. The study examined the simplified oral hygiene index by GreenVermillion (OHI-S), PMA index and Mühlemann and Son sulcus bleeding index, which allowed calculating the effectiveness of oral care products.

Results. The preventive care effectiveness evaluation showed an increase in the cleansing effect in the adult population over the entire study period. The anti-inflammatory effectiveness analysis demonstrated positive changes: by the end of the study, the PMA index was 51.52 ± 3.40% in group 1; it increased by a factor of 3 and amounted to 44.17 ± 2.77% in group 2; 56.51 ± 4.61% – in group 3, 48.95 ± 3.60% – in group 4. The Mühlemann and Son sulcus bleeding index demonstrated the changes in the periodontal tissue condition and amounted to 52.78 ± 3.62% in group 1, 44.11 ± 3.54% in group 2, 54.97 ± 3.98% in group 3, 47.78 ± 2.73% in group 4.

Conclusions. The development of oral health promotion measures determines the significance of oral care products for the prevention of odontogenic infection in the adult population, which plays a crucial role in the individual program planning for the main dental disease prevention.

Home Interactive Elderly Care Two-Way Video Healthcare System Design

This paper explores and analyses the interactive home geriatric two-way video health care system, investigates and analyses the daily lives and behaviours of the elderly in their homes through research interviews, obtains the main needs of the elderly population in their lives, as well as their cognitive and behavioural characteristics, and proposes four service function modules for the elderly in their homes; then, combining service design and interaction design theory, we propose the following four service modules for the elderly in their homes. Given the design methods and processes of the intelligent service system for the elderly at home as well as the interface interaction design principles on the three levels of vision, interaction, and reflection, the intelligent service system platform for the elderly at home was constructed, the interaction design of the mobile device terminal software of the service system platform practiced in the form of APP, and the eye-movement experiment method and fuzzy hierarchical analysis were applied to the design of the intelligent service system for the elderly at home from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The thesis study provides a new way of thinking to design and provide intelligent service system products for the elderly living at home, which is an important contribution to society's care for the elderly and their quality of life. The key features of the human skeleton are extracted from the model of abnormal leaning and falling behaviour of the elderly, and the SVM machine learning method is used to classify and identify the data, which enables the identification of the abnormal behaviour of the elderly at home with an accuracy of 97%.