The effect of tooth scrubbing time length on plaque index reduction among children of 10 to 12 years

Introduction: Scrubbing is the most common brushing method for children. The goal of our study was to find out what time length of scrubbing could be most effective on the reduction of plaque index among children of 10 to 12 years.Materials and Methods: In this interventional experimental research, 60 primary school children age 10- 12 years were selected and divided into 5 groups. All children were fully instructed on how to scrub their teeth correctly. The plaque indexes of all children were recorded on Silness and Loe scale before and after brushing their teeth. Children in the groups one to five were asked to continue brushing for 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 minutes respectively. One –way analysis of variance and paired samples t- test were used for statistical analysis.Results: This study showed that though longer brushing time helped more plaque reduction, however the differences between the five groups were not significantly different. (P=0.72) Conclusion: It seems that there are no differences between 1.0 to 3.0 minute brushing in plaque reduction