Manual Tooth Brushing Research Paper

INTRODUCTION
The manual tooth brush plays an indispensable role in one’s oral hygiene practice. It leaves behind a feeling of freshness and contributes to the development of a healthy smile. Toothbrushes are one of the most common devices of everyday use and is not expected to pose a risk of morbidity. However, owing to the frequency of it use, there can be some adverse events that could potentially be a threat to life especially in children. Children tend to get playful and might result in unforeseen injuries.(1) This can be due to the use of improper brushing techniques or due to injuries to the surrounding soft tissues of the oral cavity during the process of brushing.(2). The major reason for such injuries can be attributed to low level of manual dexterity

Meanwhile, the CT Scan advocated showed only a breach in the oropharyngeal mucosa without any foreign objects implanted in the soft tissue.

FOLLOW-UP:
The wound showed signs of uneventful healing, the pain and tenderness had reduced by the third day. One week post trauma, the wound had healed well and there were no further complaints.(Fig 2)

DISCUSSION
Tooth brushing is considered to be a meaningful and effective oral hygiene measure. Such injuries are more commonly noted in children because of the poor manual dexterity, resistance by children for tooth brushing and vigorous head and neck movement when oral hygiene being enforced by parents. In spite of being made of a pliable material and safety in terms of its design(smooth surface and rounded corners), there have been reports of rather rare traumatic injuries to the oral mucosa as well as the oropharyngeal region even leading to the impaction of the tooth brush(2). This poses a serious threat of morbidity especially in children. The sites of injury reported are mainly, the gingivobuccal sulcus, buccal fat of pad, retro molar trig one soft palate, anterior facial pillar and pharynx (4). Oral Pharyngeal