Effect of a Text-Messaging Intervention on Oral Self-Care Practices in Antenatal Women in Delhi, India: A Pilot Randomized Control Trial

This study aimed to determine the effect of a mHealth (text message) intervention compared with a structured health educational session on the oral care and hygiene practices of pregnant women.

We conducted a pilot randomized control trial, parallel design superiority trial, with a 1:1 allocation ratio. A total of 76 pregnant women up to 20 weeks of gestational age and capable of reading mobile phone text messages were recruited during August-October 2020 from the antenatal clinic of a primary health center in a low-income urban agglomeration in Delhi, India. The mHealth intervention arm participants were sent a daily text message for 30 days, while all participants were provided a one-time, face-face, brief didactic structured educational session toward oral health promotion.

The baseline characteristics of both groups were comparable in terms of age structure, education, parity, and oral hygiene but differed in terms of oral health problems. Postintervention, although the twice-brushing frequency increased in both arms, only the mHealth arm revealed a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of missed twice-daily brushing episodes (P = 0.016).

A mHealth-based daily text-message intervention for 1 month was not superior to a one-time brief didactic structured educational intervention for oral health promotion in antenatal women.