Uninstructed toothbrushing behaviour in young adults in relation to cigarette smoking in Newcastle

Video recordings were obtained of 50 men aged 18-20 yr (25 smokers, 25 non-smokers) brushing their teeth. From repeated viewing of the films the total brushing time and the number of strokes used in each of 16 areas of the mouth were obtained for each subject. Comparisons between smokers and non-smokers of time spent brushing, and number of brushing strokes used overall and in each area of the mouth, showed no significant differences. However, the distribution of brushing strokes around the mouth was more uniform in the non-smokers than in the smokers, which may indicate a tendency towards less favourable toothbrushing performance in smokers.