Abstract
Objective: We aimed to examine the hypothesis that the two different hand-grip techniques (pen grip and palm grip) affect tooth-brushing motion.Methods: Eight dental hygienists participated in this study. Their tooth-brushing motion for 15 seconds was captured using a motion-capture system. The buccal and palatal sides of the right and left upper molars using both the pen and palm grips were brushed, and the frequency of joint angles of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist was calculated during tooth-brushing.Results: Individuals showed smaller intra-individual variations in the peak frequency of the toothbrush and joint angles during the brushing of all sides with both the pen and palm grips. For some arm joints, using the palm grip showed higher intra-individual variations than inter-individual, but the intra-individual variations among all joints using the pen grip were lower in all brushing areas.Conclusion: A distinct individual tooth-brushing rhythm in the reciprocatory motion was established by each dental hygienist using both the pen and palm grips. The coordinated movements of all joints of subjects using pen grips reflected the stability of the tooth-brushing motion of each arm joint. However, when using the palm grip, it is not necessary to ensure joint stability during tooth-brushing motion. Examination by three-dimensional toothbrushing motion analysis revealed that the reciprocatory performance during tooth-brushing was easier with the palm grip than with the pen grip.
Highlights
Dental and oral health is essential for maintaining satisfactory food intake and articulation and, makes a huge contribution to quality of life [1]
Since the coordinated arm movement is very important during tooth-brushing motion, we reported the evaluation of toothbrush and arm-joint motion using a motion capture system [10]
We evaluated that dental hygienists performed the arm motion as well as shoulder, elbow, and wrist movements during tooth-brushing and toothbrush motion by using the pen grip
Summary
Dental and oral health is essential for maintaining satisfactory food intake and articulation and, makes a huge contribution to quality of life [1]. Keeping the oral cavity clean is effective for the prevention of tooth decay, periodontal disease or halitosis, but it contributes to maintaining and promoting general health [2,3]. Tooth-brushing skill is very important, and develops from childhood to adolescence [4,5]. Objectively assessing patients’ brushing skill is an ongoing challenge for dental professionals. A toothbrush monitoring system using an accelerometer and a magnetic sensor has been reported as a method to objectively evaluate tooth-brushing motion, the evaluation was limited to only the motion of the toothbrush itself [8,9]. Since the coordinated arm movement is very important during tooth-brushing motion, we reported the evaluation of toothbrush and arm-joint motion using a motion capture system [10]
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