The influence of tooth brushing supervision on the dental plaque index and toothbrush wear in preschool children

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of tooth brushing supervision in one or more sessions on dental plaque removal and toothbrush wear. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 3- to 5-year-old children received new toothbrushes and attended a puppet theater about oral health. Forty-nine children were randomly selected and divided into 3 groups (GI=20; GII=14; GIII=14). Fones' brushing method was demonstrated to the GI and GII groups to evaluate the following: the professional direct supervision and tooth brushing training in five sessions (GI), the professional direct supervision and a one-training session (GII) and the puppet theater influence only (GIII-control group). The dental plaque index (IPL) was recorded at baseline (T0), after 24 days (T1) and after 46 days (T2) and toothbrush wear (ID) was recorded on T1 and T2. The Kruskal-Wallis test and the Friedman test (IPL), as well as the one-way ANOVA and the paired Student's t-test (ID) (p<0.05) were employed to analyze the data. RESULT: GI showed a significant difference from the others groups in T1 and T2 (p<0.01).The index of toothbrush wear increased (p<0.0001) from 24 days (0.52±0.35mm) to 46 days (0.90±0.48mm), but there was no significant association between toothbrush wear and plaque index for T1 (r=0.230-p= 0.116) as well as for T2 (r=0.226-p=0.121). CONCLUSION: The multiple sessions of professional supervision were effective to reduce the dental plaque index, which was not influenced by toothbrush wear, showing continuous oral hygiene motivation needs.

Promoting oral care in the preschool child: effects of a playful learning intervention

“…The results showed that professional supervision in multiple sessions was effective in reducing plaque indexes, which were not influenced by brush damage, showing the need for continuous motivation for oral hygiene (12) .…”

“…After two years of follow-up, the results revealed significant improvements in dental plaque scores with up to a 34% reduction in caries occurrence (14) . It is important to highlight that none of these studies (9,(11)(12)(13)(14) was developed by nurses. This demonstrates the need to strengthen and expand the integration of the nurse in health education activities in pre-schools, such as oral health, in addition to producing and disseminating knowledge related to the topic.…”

Drilling Deeper into Toothbrushing Skills: is Proactive Interference an Under-Recognized Factor in Oral Hygiene Behavior Change?

“…Though the cause of this phenomena is poorly understood, many suggestions have been proposed [5, 7–9, 9, 26–30]. It is possible that, for example, as a child ages and his/her level of skill improves, he or she may develop effective tooth brushing skills [26, 27]; however, once ineffective skills are developed, it may be difficult for an adult to alter his or her established oral hygiene practices—i.e., an adult with an ingrained habit may have less learning plasticity as compared to a child or adolescent [31].…”

Criteria for the choice of manual pediatric toothbrush

“…Инструкции по чистке зубов должны соответство-вать познавательной способности и стадии развития детей [15,92].…”

“…Sforza, L. Hogan, L. Wambier также не связывают степень износа щетки с ухудшением удаления зубного на-лета [45,78,92]. Они полагают, что значительно большее влияние на качество гигиены рта оказывают техника и продолжительность чистки зубов, а также сила давления на зубы в процессе чистки.…”