The Cardiff dental survey: oral hygiene and gingival health between the ages of 11-12 and 30-31 years

Objective To examine oral hygiene and gingival health in relation to ageing in the second and third decades. Design Cohort study. Setting Cardiff, 1981, 1984, 1989 and 2000. Subjects and methods Three hundred and thirty-seven subjects were examined at the ages of 11-12 and 30-31 years and 250 at baseline and all follow-up examinations; plaque and bleeding on probing were recorded. Results Oral hygiene and gingival health improved as subjects moved through adolescence to adulthood. In general, females demonstrated less plaque and gingivitis than males. Whole mouth mean plaque and bleeding scores were lower at age 30-31 than 11-12. In those subjects examined on all four occasions, a switch from buccal to lingual predominance in the distribution of plaque and gingivitis occurred between 11-12 and 15-16 years. Oral hygiene and gingival health at 30-31 were statistically significantly associated with these parameters at previous examinations but this association became weaker as the interval between the two examinations lengthened. Conclusions Although oral hygiene and gingival health improve between adolescence and adulthood, individual practices are established at a relatively early age. In encouraging adolescents and young adults to improve standards of oral hygiene, emphasis should be placed on the importance of brushing lingual surfaces