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By the time you get to a dental clinic, your dentist may be a bit worn out.
It’s the time when a patient’s dentist has to decide whether to give them a toothbrushing fix or not.
A recent study suggests that if the toothbrush isn’t cleaned well, that may not be a good sign for your health.
The team, led by a team at Harvard Medical School, found that people with poor oral hygiene were at greater risk for developing dental caries.
They also found that patients who had less frequent brushing were at increased risk of dental cariousness, with a higher risk of caries in the lower crown region of the tooth and in the oral cavity.
The researchers believe that the findings may offer new information for the general public about dental hygiene practices, which may help dentists tailor treatments to the individual’s needs.
“We found that individuals with low oral hygiene had lower risk of developing dental cavities, whereas those with high oral hygiene did not,” said Dr. Daniel Kappel, an associate professor of oral health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
In the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 1,400 people from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted every five years.
Researchers looked at dental carials in the upper and lower crowns and in all the other parts of the teeth, including the gumline and the gum.
They found that those with poor dental hygiene had a greater prevalence of carious disease.
“There’s a great deal of evidence that shows that dental carians can be very challenging for people to manage and that it may be more appropriate to help patients manage their dental carions rather than just to try to treat them,” said Kappell.
This is because oral hygiene is the primary way in which teeth are formed, he added.
It is also why dentists are trained to offer the toothpaste and toothbrush to patients.
“People who are less able to provide the same amount of oral care as others are at a higher likelihood of developing carious caries,” Kappelt said.
The findings are published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association.
The researchers did not analyze whether patients with low dental hygiene were more likely to develop dental carius.
“Dentists may not always have enough knowledge about their patients to make a decision whether to offer a toothbrush,” said Katherine Hoeppner, the study’s lead author.
“But there’s no question that these findings will provide information for dentists to improve their oral hygiene practices and help patients who are more vulnerable to dental carioses,” Hoeffner said.
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