Dataset Information

Toothbrushing behavior in children - an observational study of toothbrushing performance in 12 year olds.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many countries offer systematic group prevention programs in kindergarten and school in order to promote children's oral health. Little is known, however, about the actual toothbrushing abilities of children when group prevention programs end.

Methods

In Germany, all children take advantage from a nationwide group prevention program (called "Gruppenprophylaxe") lasting from kindergarten up to sixth grade (12?years of age). Standardized recommendations are given concerning brushing systematics and brushing movements. N =?174 children at the age of 12 were thus randomly selected from two German towns and were asked to perform toothbrushing to the best of their abilities in front of a mirror which also served as a camera. Brushing behavior was analyzed by video analysis.

Results

Children brushed their teeth for an average of 200?s?±?80.48?s (mean?±?SD). Still, more than 55% missed at least one sextant when brushing inner surfaces, 16% missed them all. Only 7.5% of the children brushed both inner and outer surfaces by the intended movements (vertical movements on the inner surfaces and circular movements on the outer surfaces) for at least 90% of the respective brushing time. Instead, horizontal brushing was very common on the lateral surfaces.

Conclusions

The present analysis indicates that children have low efficiency to adopt the tooth-brushing recommendations given in prevention programs. This is surprising as great endeavors are made to help children internalize the recommendations. Future research is needed to better understand which factors impede adoption of toothbrushing recommendations in children and which efforts are necessary to improve their toothbrushing abilities.

SUBMITTER: Deinzer R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6489256 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Toothbrushing behavior in children - an observational study of toothbrushing performance in 12 year olds.

Deinzer Renate R Cordes Oliver O Weber Julia J Hassebrauck Lisa L Weik Ulrike U Krämer Norbert N Pieper Klaus K Margraf-Stiksrud Jutta J

BMC oral health 20190429 1

<h4>Background</h4>Many countries offer systematic group prevention programs in kindergarten and school in order to promote children's oral health. Little is known, however, about the actual toothbrushing abilities of children when group prevention programs end.<h4>Methods</h4>In Germany, all children take advantage from a nationwide group prevention program (called "Gruppenprophylaxe") lasting from kindergarten up to sixth grade (12 years of age). Standardized recommendations are given concerni ...[more]

PMID: 31035974

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Project description:ObjectivesNationwide prevention programs in Germany aim to promote oral health. The group prevention program starts in kindergarten and ends when the children are about 12 y old. While in a recent study, toothbrushing behavior of 12-y-old children was analyzed, the present study's objective was to examine the children's ability to achieve oral cleanliness and to analyze how toothbrushing behavior and compliance with the toothbrushing recommendations taught in the group prevention programs predict oral cleanliness.MethodsTwelve-year-old randomly selected children (N = 174) were asked to brush their teeth to the best of their abilities, and simultaneously a video was recorded for behavioral analyses. Plaque levels were measured before and immediately after toothbrushing. In addition, dental status and gingival bleeding were assessed.ResultsAfter brushing to the best of their abilities, there was plaque on 50% (±24.72%) of all measured sites at the gingival margin (Marginal Plaque Index). Regression analyses revealed approximately 22% of the variance of marginal plaque on the outer surfaces to be explained by the time brushed by circular movements (β = -0.41;P < 0.001) and the number of sextants brushed for at least 7.5 s (β = -0.171; P < 0.05). Circular movements explained most additional variance (ΔR2 = 0.113; P < 0.001). With respect to inner surfaces, none of the behavioral aspects explained any variance of oral cleanliness.ConclusionDespite regular group prevention measures, 12-y-old children show limited skills to clean their teeth adequately. Furthermore, none of the recommended behaviors relates to oral cleanliness after toothbrushing at inner surfaces. As a consequence, it is necessary to explore further which behavioral sequences effectively improve oral cleanliness.Knowledge transfer statementThis study illustrates that children's compliance to toothbrushing recommendations is not necessarily related to toothbrushing effectiveness. Clinicians should therefore assess the effectivity of recommendations individually and provide individual guidance for improvement.

Project description:The rise in digital media consumption, especially among children, raises the societal question of its impact on cognition, mental health and academic achievement. Here, we investigate three different ways of measuring technology use--total hours of media consumed, hours of video game play and number of media used concurrently--in 118 eight-to-twelve year-old children. At stake is the question of whether different technology uses have different effects, which could explain some of the past mixed findings. We collected data about children's media uses as well as (i) attentional and behavioral control abilities, (ii) psychological distress, psychosocial functioning, and sleep, and (iii) academic achievement and motivation. While attentional control abilities were assessed using both cognitive tests and questionnaires, mental health and sleep were all questionnaire-based. Finally, academic performance was based on self-reported grades, with motivational variables being measured through the grit and the growth-mindset questionnaires. We present partial correlation analyses and construct a psychological network to assess the structural associations between different forms of media consumption and the three categories of measures. We observe that children consume large amounts of media and media multitask substantially. Partial correlation analyses show that media multitasking specifically was mostly correlated with negative mental health, while playing video games was associated with faster responding and better mental health. No significant partial correlations were observed for total hours on media. Psychological network analysis complement these first results by indicating that all three ways of consuming technology are only indirectly related to self-reported grades. Thus, technology uses appear to only indirectly relate to academic performance, while more directly affecting mental health. This work emphasizes the need to differentiate among technology uses if one is to understand how every day digital consumption impacts human behavior.

Dataset Information

Toothbrushing behavior in children - an observational study of toothbrushing performance in 12 year olds.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Toothbrushing behavior in children - an observational study of toothbrushing performance in 12 year olds.

Similar Datasets

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