[The efficacy of dental plaque removed by using sonic electric toothbrush in children].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of using sonic electric toothbrush to clean the teeth and control dental plaque in children.


METHODS
50 children aged 6 to 7 years old were selected and divided into 2 groups according to the use of sonic electric toothbrush and traditional manual toothbrush (control group). The numbers of dental plaque surface and PLI before and after tooth brushing were recorded. The data of the two groups were analyzed with SPSS10.0 software package for student's t test and chi(2) test.


RESULTS
The ratio of dental plaque removal was 70.22% by using sonic electric toothbrush and 39.08% in the control group. The efficacy of dental plaque removal on the lingual and mesial buccal surface by using sonic electric toothbrush was 2 times greater than the control group. The PLI and the ratio of dental plaque removal were significantly different between the 2 groups (P<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Sonic electric toothbrush can help children effectively remove dental plaque. It's an efficient instrument for oral care of children.
Sun
Dun-fang
DF
Huangpu District Dental Hospital, Shanghai 200002, China. hpws024@online.sh.cn
Wang
Yi-jun
YJ
Hu
Wen-qi
WQ
Qu
Hong-xia
HX
Ni
Xiu-kang
XK
D002648:Child; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D004560:Electricity; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D013010:Sonication; D014070:Tooth; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000295:instrumentation*