Toothbrushing behaviour in relation to plaque and gingivitis in adolescent schoolchildren

Fifty seven 13‐year‐old children were asked to brush their teeth and were unaware that they were recorded on video tape. Gingival inflammation was measured (G.I.) before brushing and plaque levels (PI.I) after brushing. By viewing the films, each of 12 areas of the mouth were recorded as brushed or not brushed, together with the type and nummer of stokes used. For each area, plaque and gingivitis levels were related to the type of strokes used. The results showed the inability of these uninstructed adolescents to remove plaque, despite brushing for a mean time of 51s. For all of the areas no one stroke was consistently related to less plaque. In 3 out of the 4 buccal areas where the circular stroke was used, it was associated with the least plaque; in the remaining 2 buccal areas the long horizontal was associated with the least plaque. The relationship between gingival inflammation and brushing stoke mirrored that between plaque levels and brushing stroke.