Comparison of manual and power toothbrushing, with and without adjunctive oral irrigation, for controlling plaque and gingivitis

We compared the effects of four oral hygiene methods (manual tooth-brushing, power toothbrushing, manual toothbrushing plus irrigation, and power toothbrushing plus irrigation) on plaque and periodontal disease. These methods were tested both when used alone and when used in conjunction with professional mechanical oral hygiene. 108 subjects were clinically assessed for plaque, stain, gingival inflammation, bleeding to probing, probing depth and attachment loss, and randomly assigned to one of the 4 oral hygiene groups. Subjects were carefully instructed in the use of their assigned method and asked to discontinue all other forms of oral hygiene. After 3-months, subjects returned for re-examination and full-month professional mechanical oral hygiene care. 3 months later, subjects returned for a final oral examination. All subjects kept a diary of use of their assigned method and were called every 2 weeks to monitor discomfort, provide reinforcement and answer questions. Results showed that all the oral hygiene methods were equally effective in reducing plaque and stain accumulation, gingival bleeding, bleeding to probing ratio and the % of pockets 4 mm or deeper. None of the oral hygiene methods was associated with injury to soft or hard tissues.

Mental imagery and intraoral local anesthesia

This study was designed to determine whether mental imagery ability improves through mental practice, and whether mental imagery practice can help students learn to administer intraoral local anesthetics. Pre- and post-test measures of imagery ability and first and final measures of performance in local anesthetic administration were examined in dental hygiene students. Results indicated a significant increase in mean scores for the Gordon Test of Imagery Control from pre- to post-test within the experimental group. Although there was a trend toward higher mean performance scores for the experimental subjects, they performed significantly better than the controls only on the posterior superior alveolar nerve block. There were, however, significant correlations between imagery ability and clinical performance for the combined groups. Mental imagery ability improved with practice and appeared to assist in learning the technique of intraoral local anesthetic administration.