“Brush Up”: An Innovative Technological Aid for Parents to Keep a Check of Their Children’s Oral Hygiene Behaviour

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the impact of “Brush Up” - a mobile application, on oral hygiene behaviours of 4-6-year-old children in Bangalore city. Methods: In this experimental study, 247 children aged 4-6, were randomly divided into three groups. Considering “Brush Up” is a mobile application, parents of the children in Group 1 (n=82) downloaded the application on their smartphones. Children in Group 2 (n=83) and Group 3 (n=82) received tooth brushing instructions by an educative video and manual demonstration, respectively. Effectiveness of tooth brushing was assessed with plaque scores, which were recorded for all the groups at baseline and one month using Visible Biofilm Index. Results: Wilcoxon signed rank test showed a significant improvement in the tooth brushing behaviour for the Brush Up group, which was indicated by a lower plaque score after a follow-up of one month. Kruskal-Wallis test followed by post-hoc test showed that the mean ranks of plaque scores of Brush Up group are consistently lower than those of video demonstration group and manual demonstration group. Conclusions: The lower plaque score in subsequent follow-up in Brush Up group suggests that using a smart system can enhance learning a correct tooth brushing method in young children and can also help in implementing the required reinforcement and motivation to brush and aid in better plaque control.

Fluorescence-based Evaluation of the Efficacy of Augmented Reality-assisted Toothbrush on Oral Hygiene Practices Among 6–8 Years Old Children

“…25 A recent study investigated the usage of a smartphone app for improving manual toothbrushing via a gravitation sensor by measuring the plaque and gingival indices through a randomized controlled trial, showing promising results. 26 Similarly, comparison of A-R-assisted toothbrushing via a mobile app with manual brushing was done among 247 children by assessing plaque scores and Visual biofilm index by Desai et al 27 and measuring toothbrushing duration and distribution by Jacobson et al 28 However, to the best of our knowledge, none of the recent studies have evaluated microbiological evidence of bacterial load reduction via A-R-assisted toothbrushing with a supporting fluorescence data added as a measurable outcome. Bacterial lesions fluoresce differently from healthy tissues when excited by light in specific wavelengths.…”

“…25 A recent study investigated the usage of a smartphone app for improving manual toothbrushing via a gravitation sensor by measuring the plaque and gingival indices through a randomized controlled trial, showing promising results. 26 Similarly, comparison of A-R-assisted toothbrushing via a mobile app with manual brushing was done among 247 children by assessing plaque scores and Visual biofilm index by Desai et al 27 and measuring toothbrushing duration and distribution by Jacobson et al 28…”

The Use of Internet of Things (IoT) Technology to Promote Children's Oral Health: A Scoping Review

“…27,28 Only one study recruited participants from a private school. 29 All studies include United States, 20 Iran, 24 Germany, 27 Netherlands, 28 Saudi Arabia, 25 India, 29 and Belgium. 26 The role of parents in children's oral health maintenance was presented in two studies, 24,29 while the other five studies did not provide the information.…”

“…29 All studies include United States, 20 Iran, 24 Germany, 27 Netherlands, 28 Saudi Arabia, 25 India, 29 and Belgium. 26 The role of parents in children's oral health maintenance was presented in two studies, 24,29 while the other five studies did not provide the information. Of the seven included articles in the review, an article 29 was quasi-experimental, while the other articles were randomized controlled trail (►Table 1).…”

Monitoreo con video "selfie" para mejorar la técnica de cepillado dental

“…usaron cepillos eléctricos rotatorios conectados a un aplicativo móvil, teniendo mejoras en la higiene de los pacientes.El grupo monitoreado por video «Selfie» estuvo comprometido con el estudio el cual tenía que enviar un video del cepillado dental, indirectamente esto los obligaba a recordar su higiene oral, de similar manera en el estudio Abdaljawad 28 demostró que los recordatorios de «SMS» ayudaban a la mejora de higiene oral. De igual manera, Alkilzy34- 36 demostró que el uso de recordatorios digitales, como la llamada o el video «selfie» ayuda al control de la higiene del paciente, siendo este mejor el del grupo monitoreado.Existe también en varios estudios observados una mejora en el grupo control, pero esto también se puede explicar debido al efecto «Hawthorne»37,38 . Donde los pacientes que se ven sometidos dentro de un estudio responden mejor a los controles, sintiéndose observados.En la evaluación de «Silness y Loe» luego de realizar la prueba estadística de chi cuadrado se observó que en los dos primeros controles no hubo diferencia estadística…”