A comparison of the ability of foam swabs and toothbrushes to remove dental plaque: implications for nursing practice

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the impact which the use of a toothbrush and the use of foam swabs had on the removal of dental plaque over a 6-day period. Three experiments were completed and duplicated using the author's mouth and one of these experiments was completed a third time on a volunteer's mouth. A plaque scoring system which quantified the amount of plaque on teeth in areas adjacent to periodontal tissue, and therefore capable of initiating inflammation, was used after plaque had been disclosed. Plaque at the gum/tooth margin (gingival crevice plaque) and plaque between teeth (approximal plaque) was measured. At the end of each 6-day period, which commenced with all tooth surfaces clean, the ability of the toothbrush to remove plaque was consistently better than that of swabs, and usually achieved complete visible plaque removal from all sites. In contrast, plaque remained in all sites which had been cleaned using foam swabs (after using a 'swabbing' or 'scrubbing' technique). However, it was possible to remove plaque from a number of gingival crevice sites with a swab when a varied 'any technique' was used on the visible disclosed plaque. The plaque in all approximal sites still remained after this technique. An experiment to measure the effect of using foam swabs on plaque which had been allowed to accumulate over a 6 day period produced similar results. The results from this study suggest that the success of a toothbrush in removing plaque is affected by user technique (total visible plaque removal was not achievable), and that foam swabs are not able to remove plaque from some 'sheltered' areas of teeth (total visible plaque removal was not achievable). The implications of these findings to nursing practice are discussed.