Effective teaching of tooth-brushing to preschool children.

PURPOSE The purpose of the present study was to compare artificial tooth-brushing models (TBM) and individual modeling regarding their efficacy in teaching the correct brushing movements to younger preschool children. METHODS A total of 141 30- to 50-month-old preschool children who had not been previously instructed on tooth-brushing were enrolled in the present trial. Four different model types/groups were compared: (1) giant TBM; (2) animal TBM puppet; (3) child him/herself in front of the mirror; (4) another person with the child in the mirror. Parameters of imitational learning were investigated by means of single-person monitoring on the basis of a standardized observational method. The subjects were randomly assigned to 4 experimental groups, which were comparable regarding gender and age. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test. RESULTS This study demonstrated that behavioral modeling types 3 and 4 were more suitable as a methodological basis than TBM. Correct tooth-brushing position and movement were correlated with the attractiveness of the model and its similarity to the child. It was shown that human models achieved greatest learning success. CONCLUSION It is important to find a "helper" and an attractive model person assisting in guiding the brush with a feedback in a mirror.