Cognition and Perception About Tooth Brush Maintenance and its Contamination

Abstract

Introduction: Good oral health is essential for everyone; it can be achieved by proper brushing. The continuous usage of tooth brush leads to contamination, so the disinfection of toothbrush plays an important role in maintenance of toothbrush.
Aim: This study was aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and awareness about the toothbrush maintenance and its contamination among the general population in India.
Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaire, through Google forms, due to pandemic situation, among 510 people from the age group of 20-60 years old in India. Statistics was done and tabulated.
Results: On knowledge about tooth brush maintenance, 83% of the participants agreed to the fact that usage of tooth brush is related to oral hygiene. In response to frequency of brushing 62% responded as they brush once a day. On concept of sharing toothbrush 91.8% responded that they don’t share their tooth brush while 4.1% agreed to share their toothbrush. About 74% participants responded as bacteria is responsible for tooth brush contamination. Regarding to the usage of pre brushing mouthwash, 71.2% reported as they don’t use it and remaining 28.8% were aware of using it.
Conclusion: Thus, awareness and knowledge level regarding toothbrush maintenance and its contamination among people was found to be low, which can be improved by community oral health programmes.