Proper oral hygiene is required to maintain oral health and prevent oral disease. Toothbrushing is central to proper oral hygiene. Mechanical tooth cleaning is the mainstay of plaque control. A variety of toothbrushing techniques have been developed and evaluated for their efficacy. However, these evaluations are subjective. To adequately evaluate toothbrushing objectively, a novel toothbrushing monitoring system was developed. The system involves user-monitored brushing patterns including toothbrush motions using a 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis magnetic sensor, one load-cell and Bluetooth devices. To confirm the efficacy of this toothbrushing monitoring system, eight periodontist performed tooth brushing in a dental model, and their brushing motion was monitored and recorded, and evaluated by statistical means. The proposed monitoring system can be used to aid dental care personnel in toothbrushing instruction.

The aim of this study was to carry out the comparative analysis of the brushing force following various brushing techniques bytoothbrush mounted pressure sensing unit. The study group consisted of 10 dental hygienist participants. The brushing forces (on buccal area of each first molar) were monitored on 8 different kinds of brushing techniques; Fones, Bass, Rolling, Scrub, Charters, stillman, Modified bass and Modified stillman. In Bass, Charters, Fones and Scrub method, force distributions showed a small gap of maximum and minimum value (Max/Min) while a big difference was noted in Modified bass, Modified stillman, Rolling and Stillman methods. Especially, the biggest difference of Max/Min value was observed in the area of lower left first molar. In conclusion, highly delicate manual skill is needed in showing big error range of force distribution. It means that careful force needs to be focused during toothbrushing instruction when a delicate manual skill was carried out.

The aim of this study was to perform a comparative analysis of tooth brushing patterns before and after education with a newly invented toothbrush. All participants performed toothbrushing on left lower first molar teeth for 10 seconds, using Modified bass method with the Newly invented toothbrush before education. After recording the brushing pattern, the participants were randomly classified into 1) Tell, 2) Tell-Show and 3) Tell-Show-Do group. After their education, toothbrushing patterns were recorded again. A comparative statistical analysis with a professional group was done by a one sample t-test. Each motion of toothbrushing was represented by Roll, Pitch and Yaw directions and pressure. After toothbrushing education, the Pitch, Roll direction and the value of pressure in all groups showed significantly similarity to the professional group. The Yaw direction appears to be improved after education, but the delineated motion was not considered to represent the Modified bass method. The patterns of each group were similar to the professional group as follows; Tell < Tell-Show < Tell-Show-Do. There was general evidence of higher educational effects by telling, monitoring and practical training. Finally, toothbrushing patterns were able to be analyzed by the Newly invented toothbrush correctly and quickly. This will contribute to the establishment of correct toothbrushing habits through public use.