To explore the effect of cognitive behavioral six-step method on the improvement of the oral health behavior and the periodontal disease control of community people.

Fifty people selected form community population with CPI code 3 were randomly assigned into the intervention and control groups. People in the intervention group were received six-step behavioral cognitive intervention, while people in the control group were given traditional oral hygiene instruction. Periodontal changes including plaque index (PI) , sulcus bleeding index (SBI) and probing depth (PD) as well as the scores of task-specific self-efficacy scale for self-care (SESS) were evaluated respectively at three observation points (before intervention as the baseline, 1 month and 3 months after intervention) .

The scores of PI, SBI and brushing self-efficacy at 1 month and 3 months were improved significantly after intervention for both groups, and the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater outcomes compared with the control group (PI: 1 month, t = -8.73, P = 0.001; 3 months, t = -7.88, P = 0.001; SBI: 1 month, t = -7.71, P = 0.001; 3 months, t = -5.00, P = 0.001; brushing self-efficacy: 1 month, t = 10.36, P = 0.001; 3 months, t = 10.27, P = 0.001) . However, no significant difference in PD was shown between intervention and control groups at all three observation points (1 month, t = -1.87, P = 0.068; 3 months, t = -1.26, P = 0.094) .

Comparing with the traditional oral hygiene education, cognitive behavioral six-step method demonstrates a superior promoting in the oral health behavior and periodontal disease prevention of community population.