Table 4.

Self-reported oral hygiene habits at baseline and 6-months and self-efficacy beliefs for interdental cleaning at 6-months; % and mean (95% CI). (test n = 223 and control n = 271)

	Baseline			6-months
	Test	Control	p value	Test	Control	p value
Frequency of tooth brushing, %
≥ 2 times a day	88.7	85.1	0.483	88.8	86.7	0.368
Less often	11.4	14.9		11.2	13.3
Frequency of interdental cleaning, %
Daily	40.2	41.0	0.062	58.1	63.6	0.553
3–5 times a week	23.7	14.7		27.0	23.4
Less often or never	36.1	44.4		14.9	13.0
Time spent on oral hygiene, min/day	8.0 ± 4.2	8.0 ± 5.2	0.923‡	9.5 ± 5.5	9.7 ± 5.9	0.785‡
Inter-dental cleaning self-efficacy†
‘How confident are you that you clean your proximal surfaces in the following situations?’
When you are tired in the evening	–	–		3.1 (2.9–3.3)	3.2 (3.0–3.3)	0.533‡
When you are not going to the DH/dentist in the near future	–	–		3.9 (3.7–4.0)	3.9 (3.7–4.0)	0.904‡
When you are on holiday	–	–		3.7 (3.5–3.8)	3.7 (3.6–3.9)	0.664‡
When you have a lot of work	–	–		3.6 (3.4–3.7)	3.6 (3.4–3.7)	0.888‡
When you have a headache or feel ill	–	–		3.0 (2.8–3.1)	3.1 (2.9–3.2)	0.448‡
Mean; total self-efficacy score	–	–		17.2 (16.5–17.8)	17.4 (16.8–18.0)	0.607‡

Fisher′s exact and Independent Samples t-test^‡. ^†A six-point scale was used with scores from 0 = Absolutely confident to not clean, to 5 = Absolutely confident to clean; range 0–25 with higher scores indicating better self-efficacy