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Research 2013-14

Title: A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF BED-TIME BRUSHING ON THE ORAL BACTERIAL COUNTS USING QUANTITATIVE PCR METHOD

Abstract

A study on the effect of bedtime brushing on oral bacterial counts using the quantitative PCR method.

• Everybody knows brushing their teeth is good for oral hygiene. However, not everyone is aware that during night sleep when saliva does not do flushing action, bacteria grow a lot and cause heavy damage not only to teeth (periodontitis or gum disease) but also play a role in causing some deadly diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.

• Midnight snackers and those who eat sweets and starchy food at dinner, do not know how much bacteria grows in their mouths if they ignore brushing their teeth.

• My hypothesis is that about a 50% decrease in the bacterial count will be observed upon bedtime brushing.

• 10 volunteers were asked to eat candy at night and go to bed with and without brushing their teeth.

• A quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) analysis was done to measure the bacterial count in the morning saliva after eating a sweet in the previous night and going to bed with and without brushing teeth.

• The results showed that upon brushing on average there was a 61% decrease in bacterial growth in 90% of the volunteers. Though many studies show brushing decreases oral bacterial count, this is a unique study that does an analysis of morning saliva following bedtime brushing.

• The objective of this study is to give awareness about the importance of bedtime brushing quality on oral hygiene to prevent many deadly diseases and enjoy good health.

Reference: Steven Jaksha, "The Role of a Toothbrush in Tooth Brushing, Intra-oral Bacteria." AAOSH. N.p., n.d. April 20, 2011.

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Awareness Given Through This Research

Dental Awareness Camp 2014 - at a Middle School in a remote village in South India. This camp brought awareness of the importance of oral cleaning & bedtime brushing and motivated them to maintain good oral hygiene.