Abstract
Some instruments used in daily life can cause an unexpected accident, including toothbrushes provided by dentists while giving dental advice, which can cause damage to the oral cavity. To develop measures to prevent injuries caused by toothbrushes (entry wounds in the oral mucosa), a questionnaire survey was given to pediatric and other dentists to examine the status of injuries caused by brushes and dentist awareness. The results were as follows.1.Injuries caused by toothbrushes occurred most frequently in patients “two to three”, followed by “four to five” years old.2.Most injuries were in the “buccal mucosa” and “palate.” There was no marked relationship between the site of injury and patient age.3.The most common cause of injury was “fall with toothbrush in the mouth.” No significant association was noted between the situation in which an injury was caused and the age of the patient.4.The most common treatment method was “follow-up examination.”5.More than 70% of the surveyed dentists provided training for using toothbrushes for children under four years old. Although 84.1% of the dentists warned their patients of the risk of injury caused by improper use of a toothbrush, some who recognized that risk did not.6.No marked association was noted between “dentist experience with providing diagnosis of toothbrush-related injury” and “appropriate age considered by dentist for children to start using a toothbrush.”7.According to the results of text-mining analysis, specific instructions provided by dentists during tooth-brushing training included “brushing while lying on the back,” “observation,” and “not allowing children to walk around during tooth brushing.” Dentists with clinical experience of 25 years or more placed emphasis on “advice for younger children” and “not letting children walk around.”
