Effect of Pre-treatment Photographs on Oral Hygiene Maintenance in Orthodontic Patients

Randomized Controlled Trial Design: 1. Participants: Orthodontic patients. 2. Intervention: Patients' own pre-treatment dental photographs. 3. Study group: Orthodontic patients who are shown dental photographs. 4. Comparison group: Orthodontic patients who are not shown dental photographs. 5. Outcome: Good oral hygiene measured by plaque index. 6. Block randomization: To decrease selection or accidental bias patients were assigned group A or B using block randomization technique. Blocks were created, size of each block was 4 with 2 'A's and 2 'B's. For 2 groups there were 6 possible blocks. From random number table a random sequence of blocks was generated. Patients were then assigned groups according to blocks. 7. Subjects: I. Group 1: Included 30 patients and these patients were shown full extra-oral and intra-oral photographs. II. Group 2: Included 30 patients and these patients were not shown any photographs. All subjects received similar oral hygiene instructions. Those in group A were shown their photographs while those in B were not shown any photographs.