Characteristics Of Tooth Brushing Behaviors In Smart Electric Toothbrush Users

This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of brushing behaviors using smart toothbrush sensor data to provide strategies for personalized oral care. The study analyzed 18169 users of the same smart toothbrush between January and December 2024. Built-in sensors recorded brushing behaviors while mobile questionnaires collected demographics, with data analyzed using SPSS 27.0 for descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. This study was approved for implementation by the Medical Ethics Committee of Hospital of Stomatology, SunYat-sen University (No. KQEC-2024-46-01). Participants (7397 males; 10772 females, mean age 24) exhibited high brushing duration compliance (mean: 176.83s; 93.6% brushed for more than 120s) but suboptimal frequency (mean: 1.56 times/day; 12.8% brushed twice daily or more). Quality issues included excessive localized pressure (66.5%), localized too-fast brushing speed (81.4%), and labial surfaces cleaning bias (67.9%; average difference in brushing time between labial and lingual surfaces was 51.01 seconds). The chi-square test showed that the contralateral region of the dominant hand had significantly longer brushing time and overpressure time than the ipsilateral side (p<0.001). Smart toothbrush users demonstrated high rate of compliance with brushing duration but exhibited deficiencies in frequency, pressure/speed control, and lingual surfaces cleaning, and some of the behavioral patterns were significantly associated with the dominant hand. These findings underscore the need to optimize oral hygiene behaviors via smart-device feedback and provide data support for personalized oral care interventions based on smart devices.