Having the right toothbrush is key to successful oral hygiene. But actually, a toothbrush is only as good as the person using the brush. No matter if patients use electric or manual toothbrushes, dental professionals should help coach their patients in their effective use. A recent development in this sector has been the use of interconnected apps which directly link with electric toothbrushes. This correlates to the global trend of people being more health aware and using connected health technology in their everyday lives to track and improve everything from fitness to sleep.
The connected brush allows people to monitor the frequency, duration and coverage of brushing. This data can help dental professionals understand how a patient might be able to improve their oral hygiene.The American Dental Association recently updated their Teledentistry policy to include apps that monitor brushing or other home care.
This study Connected Health App Improves Oral Health with Real-Time Education IADR Abstract Archives compares the benefits of brushing with and without the connected app. It found that people brushing with the connected app had significantly lower levels of plaque overall, and interproximally after 6 weeks.
Using these apps can be a great way to instill good oral hygiene behaviors in your patients. Gamification in healthcare is becoming increasingly popular in helping to improve healthy habits and incentivise good health outcomes for young and old - oral health is no exception and these apps can help make learning how to brush correctly fun!
Colgate have recently launched a new fully connected electric toothbrush range named Pulse which helps the user improve their brushing habits. Most people miss 40% of their tooth surfaces when they brush*. The Pulse Series 2 brush with connected APP can improve this coverage and the time spent brushing with 50% more plaque removal at the gum margin after brushing for 6 weeks compared to a non-connected electric toothbrush.
As well as gamification, these toothbrushes can also have reminders set to motivate and nudge your patients into other good oral health habits such as twice daily brushing, visiting the dentist and changing brush heads.
These next generation toothbrushes are a great way to help connect the dots of good at home oral health care.
*Based on tooth surface coverage data collected by the colgate connect app when brushing with a smart electric toothbrush
