The aim of the present study was to analyze and compare the habitual tooth brushing behavior of adults with the manual toothbrush and, for the first time, also with the powered toothbrush. For this, 120 subjects from Gießen and the surrounding area were recruited. 100 subjects were included in the study, 38 male and 62 female (average age: 26.7 ± 7.5 years). After written and oral explanations about the aim and implementation of the study, the habitual brushing with the powered and manual toothbrush was recorded by a camera behind a mirror. All processes and all subject communication were standardized and the order (first with the manual toothbrush, then with the electric or vice versa) was randomized. The subjects cleaned for better evaluation without toothpaste, without time limit and without the presence of the study leader. Between the two cleaning campaigns, the subjects were shown a video with landscape pictures of New Zealand in order not to draw attention to the next cleaning campaign.
The video analysis was carried out with the Interact 14 ® program from Mangold (Mangold International GmbH, Arnstorf, 2015). The following parameters were evaluated: Handness, total cleaning time, effective cleaning time (brushing time), cleaned areas and cleaning movements. To evaluate the tooth brushing process, the maxilla and mandible were divided into a total of 6 sextants (sextant 1: tooth 17-14; sextant 2: tooth 13-23; sextant 3: tooth 24-27; sextant 4: tooth 37-34; sextant 5: 33-43; Sextant 6: 44-47). The evaluation of the videos started after complete data acquisition and it took place in three rounds. The first of the three runs evaluated the total cleaning time and the handness of a subject. In the second evaluation run, the cleaned areas (sextants) and the surfaces (vestibular, occlusal, oral) were coded and then in the third and last run of the evaluation, the cleaning movement was coded.
The results of the study showed that most of the subjects brushed with both toothbrush types according to the general recommendations and therefore long enough. Most of the test subjects showed great similarities in brushing behavior with both types of toothbrush, so that the way they brushed their teeth was not adapted to the type of toothbrush. There was no systematic approach, and the movements were characterized by frequent changes between different areas. The predominant cleaning movement represented horizontally linear scrubbing movements, which was strongly reminiscent of the cleaning technique learned in kindergarten and primary school. Just as it could be shown in previous studies (Mc Gregor and Rugg Gun, Winterfeld et al.), It was also noticeable that most of the subjects hardly or never reached the oral surfaces when cleaning. This was the case with both the powerd and the manual toothbrush. Furthermore, it could be observed that most of the subjects showed very similar movements with both types of brush, so that there was hardly any difference in the use of the powered brush compared to the manual brush. These results can help make oral hygiene instructions more effective.
Reyhan Duran
Effektivität Manuelle Zahnbürsten Putztechniken Vergleich Zahnbürsten elektrische Zahnbürsten