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Effect of oral hygiene instruction on brushing skills in preschoolchildren
Author(s) -
Simmons Stephen,
Smith Roger,
Gelbier Stanley
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1983.tb01877.x
Subject(s) - medicine , oral hygiene , tooth brushing , hygiene , dentistry , toothbrush , brush , pathology , electrical engineering , engineering
– This study provides new information on the assessment of toothbrushing skills in preschoolchildren. 420 children aged 2–4 years were given a single lesson on toothbrushing. Their levels of toothbrushing skills, in terms of the locations of the tooth surfaces brushed, were recorded before and after the lesson. The number of skills per child possessed before the lesson (innate skills) and the number acquired from the lesson, both increased with age. A high correlation was found between the proportion of children innately possessing a particular skill and the proportion who subsequently learned it from the lesson. An effectiveness index was devised to help compare the relative difficulty and utility of teaching different skills at different ages.