Evaluation of Toothbrush Wear on Toothbrushing Efficiency

Rayia Al-Naimi

doi:10.33899/rden.2009.9000

Abstract

Aim of the study: is to assess the influence of toothbrush wear on plaque index (PI) and gingival (GI)index. Materials and Methods: twenty dental students participated, before the beginning of the study,all the students received a prophylactic scaling and polishing by the operator, the PI and GI were recordedat the starting point T0, each student received an identical toothbrush and toothpaste and wereinstructed to brush twice daily, after one month at T1, the students were randomly divided in to twogroups, group no. 1 used the same brush provided at T1, while group no. 2 substituted the toothbrush ateach monthly examination. Recalls were scheduled after one (T1), two (T2) and three months (T3), theplaque and (PI) gingival index (GI) of Loe and Sillness, in addition to Rawls et al index of wear fortoothbrush were measured at each monthly examination. Results: showed that from T0 to T3 that thePI and GI were increasing with statistically significant difference in between each group. In comparingbetween the two groups PI showed a significant difference at T2 and T3, and although mean values ofGI in group not changing toothbrushes were slightly higher, significant difference was observed at T3only. The WI had a statistically significant difference as toothbrush bristles deteriorated, and there wasa positive relationship between the PI and WI in the group of students that did not change theirtoothbrush because as the toothbrush bristles splayed and deteriorated, the plaque values increased.Conclusion: it can be therefore concluded from the results obtained in this study, that the capacity toremove dental plaque is much related to toothbrush wear.

Highlights

The extent to which a toothbrush is worn out as evidenced by bristle wear is an important determinant of cleaning ability,(1,2) there have been many studies that investigated the effect of toothbrush wear on plaque removal,(3–8) one of the difficulties encountered in literature may be attributed to the difficulty in achieving a standard and objective method for evaluating toothbrush wear,(9) according to patients[4] and dental operators,(2,10) the splaying, spreading and bending of toothbrush bristles are the main indicators of wear, and these are the signs of toothbrush replacement
At base line T0, plaque index (PI) and GI values did not exhibit any statistically significant difference between the 2 groups, but it can be seen in Table [2] and [3] that the mean values of the PI and GI began to increase with in the same groups so the PI in group not changed toothbrush increased from
The PI in group of changing toothbrush changed from 0.39 to 0.47 with significant differences between first and last visits, while the GI changed from 0.38 to 0.46 with highly significant differences between first and last visit .In comparing between the PI and GI in group that did not change toothbrush and those that changed, there were no significant differences regarding PI in the first score taking, later on in second and third month significant difference was seen (P< 0.05), regarding GI, no significant differences were seen between the 2 groups in the first 2 scores, but in the final recording the GI in the group not changing toothbrush was higher 0.54 than the group with changed toothbrush 0.46 with significant difference

Summary

Introduction

The extent to which a toothbrush is worn out as evidenced by bristle wear is an important determinant of cleaning ability,(1,2) there have been many studies that investigated the effect of toothbrush wear on plaque removal,(3–8) one of the difficulties encountered in literature may be attributed to the difficulty in achieving a standard and objective method for evaluating toothbrush wear,(9) according to patients[4] and dental operators,(2,10) the splaying, spreading and bending of toothbrush bristles are the main indicators of wear, and these are the signs of toothbrush replacement.According to many studies, dentists suggests that the average replacement time of a toothbrush ranges from 1-3 months. [2,4,7,11]The aims of this study is to determine the effect of worn toothbrushes on plaque and gingival indices in a group of dental students and to see if worn toothbrushes had a reduced ability to remove plaque in comparison with new ones. The extent to which a toothbrush is worn out as evidenced by bristle wear is an important determinant of cleaning ability,(1,2) there have been many studies that investigated the effect of toothbrush wear on plaque removal,(3–8) one of the difficulties encountered in literature may be attributed to the difficulty in achieving a standard and objective method for evaluating toothbrush wear,(9) according to patients[4] and dental operators,(2,10) the splaying, spreading and bending of toothbrush bristles are the main indicators of wear, and these are the signs of toothbrush replacement. The aims of this study is to determine the effect of worn toothbrushes on plaque and gingival indices in a group of dental students and to see if worn toothbrushes had a reduced ability to remove plaque in comparison with new ones

Objectives

Methods

Results