Assessment of oral self-care in patients with periodontitis: a pilot study in a dental school clinic in Japan

BMC Oral Health

Table 5 Summary of responses to item 1 to 6 of "Perception of oral condition" and their relationship with plaque score

Perception of oral condition	Responses and binarization†	Relationship with plaque score
Items
1. How often do you check your teeth or mouth in a mirror? n = 65		NS
everyday	22 (34)
a few times/week	21 (32)
a few times/month	11(17)
almost never	11 (17)
2. How would you rate your desire to keep your teeth? n = 65		NS
Very strong	48 (74)
Strong	15 (23)
Fair	2 (3)
Weak	0 (0)
Very weak	0 (0)
4. How much are you willing to do to improve your oral health? n = 65		NS
Anything necessary	40 (62)
I am willing to take some action.	25 (38)
Not very much	0 (0)
6. Have you been maintaining regular dental check-ups? n = 63		P = 0.0407
Yes	17 (27)
No	46 (73)

Values are expressed in n (%). Items subjected to the statistical analysis were shown.
†Responses were grouped into two (as separated by dotted line) and compared with two categories of PCR (≥ 40% vs. < 40%) by Fisher's exact test. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
NS; not significant

ISSN: 1472-6831