Table 7.

Multiple comparison of mean differences of tumor necrosis factor-α levels between different time intervals in each study group using Bonferroni’s post hoc analysis

Group	Time (I)	Time (J)	Mean difference (I-J)	95% CI for difference		P
				Lower	Upper
Group 1	Before	7 days	−0.140	−0.194	−0.085	<0.001*
		30 days	−0.240	−0.303	−0.177	<0.001*
		6 months	−0.290	−0.359	−0.222	<0.001*
	7 days	30 days	−0.100	−0.14	−0.061	<0.001*
		6 months	−0.151	−0.192	−0.109	<0.001*
	30 days	6 months	−0.050	−0.071	−0.029	<0.001*
Group 2	Before	7 days	−0.425	−0.496	−0.354	<0.001*
		30 days	−2.563	−2.672	−2.454	<0.001*
		6 months	−1.616	−1.758	−1.475	<0.001*
	7 days	30 days	−2.138	−2.262	−2.014	<0.001*
		6 months	−1.191	−1.322	−1.06	<0.001*
	30 days	6 months	0.947	0.821	1.073	<0.001*
Group 3	Before	7 days	−0.347	−0.422	−0.271	<0.001*
		30 days	−1.229	−1.337	−1.121	<0.001*
		6 months	−0.733	−0.829	−0.637	<0.001*
	7 days	30 days	−0.882	−0.95	−0.814	<0.001*
		6 months	−0.386	−0.452	−0.32	<0.001*
	30 days	6 months	0.496	0.417	0.575	<0.001*

*Statistically significant at P<0.05. Group 1 – Untreated controls; Group 2 – Nonfluoridated group; Group 3 – Fluoridated group; TNF-α – Tumor necrosis factor-α; CI – Class interval; P – Probability value