Evaluation of the effectiveness of a custom‐made toothbrush in maintaining oral hygiene and gingival health in cerebral palsy patients

Abstract

Aim:To evaluate and compare the efficacy of customized toothbrushes in maintenance of oral hygiene and gingival health with that of conventional toothbrushes in children with cerebral palsy. Methods:Thirty patients with cerebral palsy in the age group of 6 to 18 years were randomly divided into two groups-group I (normal toothbrush) and group II (customized toothbrush). Common oral hygiene instructions were given to both the groups. Before beginning the study, plaque index (PI) and modified gingival index (MGI) were recorded, following which patients were made to practice their routine twice a day brushing with either normal toothbrush or custom-made toothbrush for 3 weeks. At the end of 3 weeks, PI and MGI were rerecorded. The subjects belonging to group II were also made to perform muscle exercises using the modified brush head. Results:Significantly high percentage drop between the pre-and post-PI as well as MGI (31.55% and 30.23%, respectively) was observed in the custom-made toothbrush group, while the percentage drop of only 8.34% (PI) and 14.51% (MGI) was seen in the normal toothbrush group.Conclusions: Custom-made tooth brushes increased the efficiency of maintaining oral hygiene and gingival health of individuals with cerebral palsy.

Comparison on the effect of oral hygiene status before and after supervised oral health maintenance in special children

“…et al [25] stated that there is significant improvement in plaque levels and gingival health of C.P. children whereas Rai T. et al [26] contradicted to our study that in individuals with cerebral palsy the efficiency of maintaining oral hygiene and gingival health increased only with custom-made tooth brushes. The plaque index for the children whose oral prophylaxis were not done, increases at 3 months in all except for H.I.…”

Bibliometric analysis of cerebral palsy and oral health in PubMed (1956-2021)

“…However, it should be noted that the conclusions of case-reports could not be applied directly in clinical practice (Hurd 2014). Although a low number of interventional studies were observed (3.01%), an increased number of publications on the theme of this study was observed every decade (Abd-Elmonem et al 2021, Rai et al 2018, M Baeder et al 2017, Inal et al 2017, Yitzhak et al 2017, Feng et al 2007.…”

A two‐week single‐group longitudinal test of a new sonic‐powered toothbrush simulating the ‘bass brushing technique’ with tapered bristles on the brush head for reduction of dental plaque and gingivitis

“…However, a review concluded evidence of only a small Hawthorne effect in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) 27 . In other studies, a less than 10% reduction in the modified gingival index (MGI) 28,29 and PlI 30,31 was observed in a manual toothbrush group after two or three weeks 32 . As a consequence, the results in this study are convincing even after the deduction of the Hawthorne effect.…”