A Study on the Stability of the Tooth-brushing Habit in School Children

The children at the Minamihata, Asaka 3rd and Osato elementary schools were instructed in their diaries their tooth-brushing habits for one year. Careful analyses of the diaries revealed that, as compared with other months of June, August, October and December, the number of their tooth-brushings decreased per day in August.At the same time, it was confirmed that on Sundays the number of tooth-brushings was less than on week days.When analyzed in terms of different schools, at the Minamihata elementary school 35% accounted for the tooth-brushing after lunch, whereas at the Asaka 3rd and Osato elementary school more than half of the children brushed their teeth at getting up in the morning or before retiring for the night.This kind of differences may be ascribed to the teaching policy of the schools concerned.Those children who brushed their teeth more than once a day were observed to be unstable in their habit than those who regularly brushed their once a day.It has been difficult to infer their habit of tooth-brushing of a day for that of one month or the whole year.Although the taste and flavor of a tooth-paste liked by the children were factors to be considered in the formation of tooth-brushing habit, it seemed that a dental paste or dental powder could be easily changed. Therefore, it is necessary that, in the instruction of tooth-brushing in schools, many factors involved in the picture should be given a sufficient consideration.