Influence of socioeconomic level and dentifrice brand on the oral hygiene habits and the fluoride dentifrice ingestion

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of socioeconomic level and dentifrice brand on the brushing habits and the fluoride ingestion. The sample was composed of 124 Brazilian children aged 3-9 years, from different socioeconomic levels (SEL). It was used a crossover study with the children using two dentifrice brands: Tandy Uva/T (1,100 ppm NaF) and Super Branco/SB (1,500 ppm MFP). Each child brushed his/her teeth with both dentifrice brands with weekly intervals between the brushes. The oral hygiene habits considered in this study were the Dentifrice Amount Placed on toothbrush (ADP), Dentifrice Amount Ingested (ADI), Fluoride Amount Ingested (FAI) and Brushing Time (TB). The data obtained were submitted to ANOVA test. It was observed that there was influence of SEL on the ADP and TB. The high SEL children showed a higher ADP and TB. The dentifrice brand influenced significantly the ADP, ADI, AFI and TB; the dentifrice T showed a higher ADP, ADI, but a lower AFI and TB. The results showed a significant interaction between SEL and dentifrice brand as ADI, AFI and TB. Although the children ingested a higher amount of T dentifrice they ingested a higher amount of fluoride from the SB dentifrice.