New instrument for oral hygiene of children with cleft lip and palate

Abstract

Patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) have several oral alterations that make the removal of bacterial plaque in the cleft area difficult, which is the main cause of the high incidence of oral health problems. The aim of this study is to develop a toothbrush especially designed to perform the hygiene of the cleft area. This device, called Cleft Toothbrush, is an add-on to a conventional toothbrush to clean hard-to-reach areas that are not accessible by using conventional brush shapes. The design was made in SOLIDWORKS®(Waltham, MA, USA) 3D and a sample of this device was produced by CURAPROX (Kriens, Switzerland). The efficacy of the Cleft Toothbrush was tested in a preliminary study performed in a four years old child with CLP, compared to that of a conventional toothbrush. A significantly higher reduction of the bacterial plaque was achieved with the Cleft Toothbrush. The child's parents also felt more confident with this device, as it deals better with sensitive areas, as it did not hurt the child. This innovative toothbrush adapter appears to greatly improve the cleaning areas of high bacterial plaque retention in patients with CLP, together with excellent acceptance.