Periodontitis: What Do People (Not) Do –A Telephone Survey

Objectives:
Effective oral hygiene is crucial for controlling the dental plaque biofilm and should thus be a standard in daily personal hygiene. For preventing periodontal diseases, interdental biofilm removal is additionally recommended.
We were, therefore, interested in contemporary personal oral hygiene routines in Germany.
Methods: Between January and June 2018, n=973 former participants of the representative German Oral Health study were telephone interviewed, mainly by open questions concerning their personal oral hygiene program. Of them, n=333 participants were adolescents (17 yrs), n=307 were adults (40-49 yrs), and n=333 were seniors (70-79 yrs), respectively.
Results: 2.4 % of adolescents, 1.0 % of adults, and 5.4 % of seniors did not report any tooth brushing. Less than daily tooth brushing was rarely found (0,3 % in adults and 0.6 % in seniors). The most prevalent daily oral hygiene measure was manual tooth brushing, mostly twice daily. For interdental oral hygiene, most favored tool was dental floss, followed by interdental brushes. Only a minority used additional oral hygiene tools (see table).
Conclusions: Self-reported personal oral hygiene measures demonstrated a rather high frequency of daily tooth brushing as well as interdental cleaning. Facing high prevalence of periodontal diseases in Germany (approx. 50 % moderate and about 10 % severe periodontal diseases in adults and seniors), professional oral health education might therefore focus its effective utilization.