Methods: A total of 43 children aged 10-12 years were randomly selected and instructed to follow the protocol for brushing teeth as instructed. Each case served as control to himself / herself. Patients were requested to brush through one of the two (Wet/Dry) techniques for one week followed by the use of the other technique on the following week. All samples received a washout step using pumice prophylaxis prior to the brushing period. Tooth Cleanliness Index (TCI) was used to measure the remaining plaque. Two uniform Oral-B Brushes were used by all participants during the period of the study, each being used in one of the two groups through Modified Stillman technique. Man Whitney test was employed along with the Wilcoxon signed rank tests to analyze the data.
Results: The level of brushing efficacy was slightly higher in males compare to females. However the difference was not statistically significant. The amount of remaining plaque on teeth surfaces was higher in wet brushed surfaces than that in dry brushed ones. This difference was also not significant. Parents’ education level and their job had little effect of the child’s brushing potential which was not statistically significant also. TCI was measured 7.3±1.7 for dry brushing and 7.6±2.6 for wet brushing times. No statistical significant ewas found between the two techniques after one week of brushing (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Wet and Dry brusing did not show a significant difference in their capacity to remove plaque indicating that dry brushing could be considered as an acceptable way to brush teeth while reducing the risk of toothpaste being swallowed.