Avaliação da eficácia das escovas dentais, convencional e elétrica, em idosos independentes : estudo clínico randomizado cruzado cego

Abstract

Population aging is a prominent global as well as a Brazilian phenomenon, with the trend of elder citizen presenting teeth in the mouth, so it is necessary to think of effective ways to keep the teeth clean and with more oral health. This research consisted of a randomized crossover clinical study, blinded researcher for the type of toothbrush that was used by the elderly. The plaque was evaluated by the plaque index of Greene and Vermillion (1964), and gingival bleeding after probing, as Ainamo and Bay (1975).The objective was to compare and evaluate the clinical efficacy of electric toothbrush (ET) - Sonic Power 360 ®, with the manual toothbrush (MT) - Deepclean 360 ®, to remove plaque and reducing gum bleeding in the independent elderly, older than 60 years, possessing at least 10 teeth in the mouth. The study was performed after approval of the CEP-CCS-UFES Nº 204/11 and by signing the TCLE form by the participants. On the first day, the 40 subjects involved in the study were evaluated with respect to socioeconomic status, gingival and dental (DMFT) conditions. The subjects were divided into two groups: A - used the electric toothbrush first and then manual one, and B - used the manual toothbrush first and then the electric toothbrush. A total of 77.5% of the elderly had the DMFT index of less than 24 for both groups. The results regarding the rate of plaque at baseline, 14, 28, 42 days for electric toothbrush were 0.99 ± 0.64, 0.43 ± 0.38, 0.39 ± 0.38, 0.42 ± 0.35 and for manual toothbrush, 1.02 ± 0.64, 0.51 ± 0.52, 0.50 ± 0.45, 0.49 ± 0.44, respectively. The Wilcoxon test showed statistically significant results (p-value <0.05) in the removal of plaque for both types of toothbrushes tested, when comparisons were made between the initial day and the appointments of the 14th, 28th and 42nd day. The result of the Mann-Whitney test was not significant when compared to the rates of plaque the two groups. The reduction of gingival bleeding within groups (beginning and end) was statistically significant by Student's t test, with a significance level of 5%. When the participants were asked about their preference for toothbrush, 69.2% said they prefer the electric toothbrush, which was considered statistically significant by chi-square test. Considering the conditions under which the study was conducted and the results it yielded, it was concluded that: Both toothbrushes were effective in removing plaque in the 14th, 28th and 42th days, compared to the initial day. There was no statistical difference in relation to the reduction of the plaque, when the tests were carried out between the group that utilized the electric toothbrush, and the group that used the manual one. There was a statistically significant reduction in bleeding index independent of the order in which the brushes, electric or manual, were used. The oral health status of the sample was better than that shown in the national survey, as it involved senior citizens with more teeth present in the mouth and greater number of restored teeth than the national average for the age group. The electric toothbrush had an acceptance statistically significant compared to the manual toothbrush.