Objective: To analyse trends in development of the toothbrushing frequency of Finnish adolescents and the socio-economic factors associated with these trends between 1977 and 1995.
Design: The data were collected as part of a nation-wide research programme, the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey, which started in 1977. Since then a 12-page questionnaire has been sent every other year. Dental health behaviour was studied from the outset.
Subjects: The sample represented 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-year-old children and adolescents in Finland. The sample size varied between 3,205-10,626, making a total of 66,687 participants.
Outcome measures: The recommended toothbrushing frequency, twice-a-day, was studied. The socio-economic factors included age, gender, self-assessed school performance, level of education, socio-economic status of the householder, and socio-economic category of the residential area.
Results: Among boys, daily toothbrushing increased from 1977 to 1995, but among girls it remained stable. Among boys, the prevalence of twice-a-day toothbrushing frequency varied from 13 per cent to 25 per cent between the ages of 12 and 18 years, and among girls from 32 per cent to 60 per cent, respectively. Among 12- to 14-year-old boys, the socio-economic differences almost disappeared. There were no changes among 12- to 14-year-old girls but there was an unexpected declining trend in toothbrushing among 16- to 18-year-old girls. Apparently further improvement in the toothbrushing frequency of girls had stopped.
Conclusions: Although there was a clear trend towards improvement of toothbrushing frequency among boys, their toothbrushing frequency still lagged far behind that of girls.