DURING THE PAST DECADE, the role of oral hygiene procedures in maintaining dental and periodontal health has received increased attention. A number of studies have shown a positive relationship between the frequency of oral hygiene procedures and gingival health status. 1-5 Little information is available, however, on the effects of several years of continuing preventive measures. There is virtually no information available on the optimum frequency for employing preventive treatment measures or for the reinforcing of instruction in oral hygiene procedures.To secure information on how best to treat its personnel, the United States Air Force initiated a study of preventive periodontic technics at the U. S. Air Force Academy in July 1965. Previous papers have reported on the results of the initial examination of participants 6 and their oral health status after one 7 and two years of preventive treatments. 8 This paper reports on the findings of that study over the entire 46-month period.
TREATMENT GROUPSFrom the original group of 713 men selected, 470
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