BRIGHT Trial V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
BRIGHT Trial: Brushing RemInder 4 Good oral HealTh: the clinical and cost- effectiveness of a Short Messaging Service behaviour change programme to improve the oral health of young people living in deprived areas
IRAS ID
223377
Contact name
Nicola P T Innes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN12139369
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
Tooth decay is very common affecting nearly one-half of young people aged 12-15 years in deprived areas. Regular tooth brushing with fluoride toothpaste can prevent it. In New Zealand a study found that sending unemployed young adults a text message on their mobile phone every week increased how often they brushed their teeth.
The BRIGHT project will use a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test whether an intervention which involves a lesson in school about dental health followed by a series of text messages reduces tooth decay, increases how often (and how well) young people brush their teeth and how cost effective it is.
The trial will run in schools in deprived areas in England, Scotland and Wales. A pilot trial will be conducted to check whether it is possible to run the main trial and the best ways of doing so. The pilot will run in 10 schools with 1200 young people. If the pilot shows the main trial is possible we will involve a total of 48 schools and 5760 young people. In each school one year group of young people will receive the intervention and one year group will not. We will collect outcome information for 3 years; dentists will go into schools to conduct dental examinations and we will ask young people and parents/carers to fill out questionnaires to collect information about tooth decay, how often they brush their teeth and how much tooth decay affects their lives. This will allow us to investigate whether there is a difference between those who receive the intervention and those who do not. We will also find out how well the intervention is working from school staff, young people and parents/carers.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
17/ES/0096
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion