The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a lithium battery toothbrush in improving gingivitis . The experimental toothbrush had a 3 − volt lithium battery instalied in the handle and gave a srna1 且 electrical charge to the teeth or gingiva 且 tissue, The contrQl toothbrush was completely the same but without the battery against the experimental one , Adouble blind study was conducted for 16 weeks on 26 volunteer students aged 18 − 24. Gingival conditions of subjects were assessed by probing depth and according to the modified Papillary Bleeding Index . The modified Papillary Bleeding Index of experimental groups showed a significant decrease, althQugh probing depth of experimental grQups showed a similar tendency tQ that of control groups . This finding suggests that improvements in gingivitis might be expected through charging gingival tissue electrically in addition to mechanical plaque removal by toothbrush itself .
Acomputerized planimetric method (P % 1) fQr measuring plaque adhesion area has been developed. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate intra − and inter − examiner re 且 iability in assessing dental plaque by this method and the efficacy of the method itself . Correlation coefficient between intra − examiner and between 2 examiners were O. 99 and O. 92 , respectively , which indicated significantly (p 〈 0. 001)high reproducibility . When plaque area was also measured by the Debris index (DI) , PQdshadley ' s patient hygiene performance index (PHP) , Turesky modified Quigley − Hein plaque index (QHI) , the Navy plaque index (NPI) on 221tooth − surfaces in 18 volunteer students , significantly high correlation (r = 0. 80 to O. 84)was found between the P % I and these 4 indices . The P% I showed highest plaque reduction rate (40%) ,when plaque area in the same subjects was compared between before toothbrushing instruction and after instruction , although mean number of scores showed significant differ −
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