A MOBILE APP AS A TOOL FOR PROMOTION OF GOOD ORAL HYGIENE PRACTISES AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN DAVANAGERE CITY, KARNATAKA

*Dr. Gayathri Rajeev, Dr. Mohamed Imranulla, Dr. Prashant G.M., Dr. Sushanth V.H., Dr. Allama Prabhu C.R., Dr. Vivek H.P.

ABSTRACT

The study aimed at assessing the use of Brush DJ app, thus compare the brushing efficiency with mobile app assisted brushing and regular oral hygiene practises. It uses timers and reminders to persuade users to brush their teeth regularly. The study subjects were aged 18-25 (N=120) from Davanagere city. The Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) by John C Greene and Jack R Vermillion were examined at baseline. Two investigators carried out examinations. They were calibrated by having each one of them practicing OHI-S on 20 participants and comparing their scores using interclass correlation coefficient. 60 participants were in the control group which consisted of verbal oral hygiene instructions and another 60 participants were enrolled in the intervention group and were taught to use the Brush DJ app. Follow up examination was done 20 days later. Statistics were performed using SPSS (version 21.0). Independent sample t test was used for comparison between the two groups and paired t test for comparison within the groups. It was found that at baseline there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p=0.2) and after 20 days there was found to be a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p= 0.04)

Keywords: Brush DJ, Mobile assisted brushing, OHI-S, Mobile app, Health promotion..