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. 2019 Dec;20(6):603-607.
doi: 10.1007/s40368-019-00443-7. Epub 2019 May 13.

Maternal report underestimates the amount of dentifrice used by children during toothbrushing: a cross-sectional study

M F G de Siqueira  1 , E T de Sousa  2 , V F Alves  3 , F C Sampaio  4 , M B Diniz  5
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Maternal report underestimates the amount of dentifrice used by children during toothbrushing: a cross-sectional study

M F G de Siqueira et al. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated whether the report of mothers about the amount of dentifrice applied on a toothbrush could be a reliable method to estimate the inadvertent use of dentifrices.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a randomly selected sample of 334 mothers of children enrolled in public day care centres of a city in the Brazilian northeast. Initially, the mothers chose the figure corresponding to the amount of dentifrice used during their children's daily toothbrushing. Then, they simulated real-life conditions with the toothbrush routinely used to brush the children's teeth. The amount of dentifrice on toothbrush was weighted using an analytical scale. Data were analysed by the Kruskal-Wallis followed by the Dunn test (α = 0.05).

Results: The weight of dentifrice on the toothbrush was high (> 0.3 g), mainly considering the categories 'covered only' and 'completely covered' that showed no statistical difference (p > 0.05). The proportion of agreement between the mothers' reports and the weight of dentifrice on the toothbrush was 0.23 (CI 0.18-0.28).

Conclusion: The mothers' report regarding the amount of dentifrice on the toothbrush by demonstrative figures was not a reliable method to estimate the inadvertent ingestion of fluoride from dentifrices.

Keywords: Children; Dental fluorosis; Fluoride intake.

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