1Post Graduate Student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India
2Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India
3Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India
*Corresponding Author: Pradeep Kumar Rathinavelu, Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, No: 162, Poonamalle High Road, Chennai-600 077, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: drrpradeepkumar@gmail.com, Telephone: +91-9940391698
Online published on 27 March, 2020.
Toothbrush is the widely used personal and the most cost effective oral hygiene maintenance aid. Hence it must be appropriately selected.
To determine if professional health education or following brushing technique after reading instructions given by the manufacturer has an impact on dental plaque levels.
The present trial was examiner blind, randomized and two visit study with 100 volunteers. The total sample consisted of 100 subjects and they were equally divided in to 4 groups. Group I were given health Education and instructed to use V-Beat Toothbrush. Group II were taught health education and instructed to use normal toothbrush. Group III and IV were instructed to use V-Beat and normal toothbrushes respectively. Participants were assessed for dental plaque status according to Turesky's Gilmore modification of Quigley-Hein plaque index using two-tone disclosing agent at baseline and first visit (7 days) which were subjected to comparisons. Data were entered in Excel and transferred to SPSS (Version 23) and correlation between and within the groups were determined for analysis.
Group-I was found to be statistically significant than other groups compared in the study. On comparing Group-I and IV, least correlation was shown. However, greater significance was observed in Group-I. Further Comparisons of Groups I & II with III & IV led to the finding that significant difference was observed in the groups to which health education was given.
Health education intervention followed by usage of V-Beat tooth brush was most effective in reducing plaque.
Dental plaque, Oral health education, Plaque scores, toothbrush design, toothbrush selection
