## 3 Results
### Clinical Outcomes Variables
#### 3.4.2 Bleeding on Marginal Probing Index (BOMP)  
No statistically significant differences were found between groups in terms of BOMP at any visit (Table 5), except for a significant reduction in the test group for the lingual area between baseline and week 6 (\(p\) = 0.049). Intragroup assessments revealed that both groups demonstrated significant reductions between baseline and week 3 and week 6 in the overall, buccal and proximal areas (Table 5). In lingual areas, the control group did not show significant differences at week 6 (\(p\) = 0.133) and the test group showed significant differences at week 3 (\(p\) < 0.001) and at week 6 (\(p\) = 0.000).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Test Group** & **Control Group** & **Mean** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**95\% CI Bounds**} & \(p\) \\ \cline{2-6}  & **Mean (SD)** & **Mean (SD)** & **Difference** & **Lower** & **Upper** & \\ \hline
**Lingual** & & & & & & \\ \hline Baseline & 2.74 (0.49) * & 2.89 (0.41) & \(-\)0.151 & \(-\)0.39 & 0.09 & 0.225 \\ \hline
3 weeks & 2.43 (0.40) & 2.78 (0.36) & \(-\)0.353 & \(-\)0.56 & \(-\)0.14 & **0.001** \\ \hline
6 weeks & 2.37 (0.50) ** & 2.76 (0.32) & \(-\)0.389 & \(-\)0.62 & \(-\)0.15 & **0.002** \\ \hline Change BL-3w & 0.30 (0.43) & 0.10 (0.38) & 0.201 & \(-\)0.02 & 0.42 & 0.076 \\ \hline Change BL-6w & 0.36 (0.46) & 0.12 (0.41) & 0.237 & \(-\)0.00 & 0.47 & 0.051 \\ \hline
**Proximal** & & & & & & \\ \hline Baseline & 2.86 (0.40) * & 2.93 (0.39) & \(-\)0.063 & \(-\)0.28 & 0.15 & 0.564 \\ \hline
3 weeks & 2.58 (0.38) & 2.80 (0.34) & \(-\)0.222 & \(-\)0.42 & \(-\)0.02 & **0.030** \\ \hline
6 weeks & 2.51 (0.46) ** & 2.80 (0.26) & \(-\)0.284 & \(-\)0.49 & \(-\)0.07 & **0.008** \\ \hline Change BL-3w & 0.28 (0.39) & 0.12 (0.38) & 0.137 & \(-\)0.05 & 0.37 & 0.137 \\ \hline Change BL-6w & 0.34 (0.45) & 0.12 (0.41) & 0.220 & \(-\)0.01 & 0.45 & 0.067 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} n: sample size; SD: standard deviation; CI: confidence interval; BL: baseline; 3w: 3 weeks; 6w: 6 weeks; */**: statistically significant (\(p\) < 0.05) intragroup differences BL-3w* or BL-6w**. \(p\) values in bold represent statistically significant (\(p\) < 0.05) intragroup differences.  
\end{table}
Table 4: _Cont._  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Test Group** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Control Group**} & \(p\) \\ \cline{2-5}  & **Mean (SD)** & **Median (IQR)** & **Mean (SD)** & **Median (IQR)** & \\ \hline
**n** & 29 & 29 & 26 & 26 & \\ \hline
**All sites** & & & & & \\ \hline Baseline & 0.29 (0.17) & 0.25 (0.25) * & 0.31 (0.18) & 0.29 (0.18) * & 0.913 \\ \hline
3 weeks & 0.18 (0.15) & 0.13 (0.13) & 0.20 (0.16) & 0.19 (0.15) & 0.315 \\ \hline
6 weeks & 0.14 (0.12) & 0.12 (0.15) ** & 0.21 (0.16) & 0.17 (0.15) ** & 0.085 \\ \hline Change BL-3w & 0.11 (0.14) & 0.09 (0.17) & 0.10 (0.13) & 0.07 (0.19) & 0.418 \\ \hline Change BL-6w & 0.15 (0.11) & 0.11 (0.19) & 0.10 (0.14) & 0.08 (0.17) & 0.189 \\ \hline
**Buccal** & & & & & \\ \hline Baseline & 0.24 (0.19) & 0.19 (0.24) * & 0.24 (0.16) & 0.19 (0.12) * & 0.698 \\ \hline
3 weeks & 0.14 (0.15) & 0.08 (0.15) & 0.14 (0.11) & 0.11 (0.11) & 0.375 \\ \hline
6 weeks & 0.10 (0.12) & 0.06 (0.16) ** & 0.13 (0.13) & 0.08 (0.12) ** & 0.174 \\ \hline Change BL-3w & 0.10 (0.17) & 0.08 (0.16) & 0.10 (0.13) & 0.10 (0.17) & 0.813 \\ \hline Change BL-6w & 0.14 (0.12) & 0.09 (0.19) & 0.11 (0.15) & 0.11 (0.14) & 0.680 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} n: sample size; SD: standard deviation; CI: confidence interval; BL: baseline; 3w: 3 weeks; 6w: 6 weeks; */**: statistically significant (\(p\) < 0.05) intragroup differences BL-3w* or BL-6w**. \(p\) values in bold represent statistically significant (\(p\) < 0.05) intragroup differences.  
\end{table}
Table 5: Bleeding on marginal probing index (BOMP) analyzed by means of Mann–Whitney U test and Friedman test for paired samples with Bonferroni correction.