Effects of GPS on caries progression
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effects of goal-setting, planning and self-monitoring (GPS) on behavioural outcomes and tooth decay - a randomised controlled trial (RCT)
IRAS ID
254222
Contact name
Iain Chapple
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 18 days
Research summary
This study seeks to understand whether we can use psychological techniques that have been found to be effective in patients with gum disease and tooth wear, to help patients with dental decay make lifestyle changes to stop progression of the disease. These techniques are 1) providing patients with a personalized assessment of their risk of developing tooth decay to explain why preventive measures are particularly important to them and 2) setting them a goal to reduce snacking and improve oral hygiene by using a daily diet and tooth cleaning log. We will examine patients with high levels of decay and examine whether our intervention is effective with this “high risk” group. We will measure tooth decay and plaque in people at the beginning of the study, and enquire how much snacking people engage in and how frequently they clean their teeth. We will also measure what people think about tooth decay. We will use the psychological techniques to help patients reduce their in-between meal snacking and improve their oral hygiene after their baseline and 6 month appointments. At their 12 month appointment, we will measure how much decay and plaque are present in their mouths, as well as querying their snacking, oral hygiene habits and beliefs about tooth decay. We are hoping to show that our psychological techniques can help change how people think about tooth decay and help people reduce their in-between meal snacking and improve their teeth cleaning habits, which, we expect, will have a direct effect on the extent of dental decay and plaque present in these patients.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0221
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion