Health Sciences Program Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Health Science

Copyright Statement

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of Nova Southeastern University. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

Department

College of Health Care Sciences – Health Science Department

First Advisor

Sarah Ransdell

Second Advisor

Dana Mills

Third Advisor

Cristina Garcia-Godoy

Publication Date / Copyright Date

2021

Publisher

Nova Southeastern University

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between power toothbrush use and a person's chronological age. Additionally, the relationship between the gingival bleeding index (GBI) scores with relation to manual and electronic toothbrush use based on age group was determined. The Diffusion of Innovation and Social Cognitive theories were used to predict and interpret the study results. After approval was received from the Institutional Review Board at Nova Southeastern University, a retrospective de-identified data set was assembled and analyzed. Secondary data was analyzed to look for a relationship betweenchronological age and power toothbrush use and GBI scores. Chi-square tests with corresponding odds ratio calculations was used to find a statistically significant relationship between age and type of toothbrushuse. This test indicated that a person 45 years and older was 1.4 times more likely to use a power toothbrush and a person 65 years and older was 1.7 times more likely to use a power toothbrush. Additionally, a Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was used to determine that GBI scores are statistically significantly lower in the power toothbrush group, indicating less disease. The median rank sum of GBI scores was lower for thepower toothbrush user.

Disciplines

Other Medicine and Health Sciences

Keywords

Biofilm, Diffusion of innovation, Gingival bleeding index, Gingivitis, Power toothbrush, Social cognitive theory, Chronic disease, Dentition, Periodontal disease, Dental prophylaxis, Etiological influence, Supragingival plaque

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