The Dental Hygiene of Stanford Students
Lots to Smile about:
A great education, beautiful campus and lots of sunshine give Stanford students a lot to smile about. In our research about the toothbrush we decided to find out how well Stanford’s dental hygiene compares to the rest of the population. Do Stanford students take good care of their smiles? Or do all-nighters, early morning practices and hectic class schedules of the typical Stanford student get in the way of proper dental care? Through a survey of ninety-one of our fellow students we collected data about brushing habits and what motivates Stanford kids to brush.
How often do Stanford student brush their teeth?
Our survey showed that the percentage of Stanford students who brush their teeth the recommended two times a day is far higher than the national average. According to the American Dental Association’s 2010 survey 56.8% of women and 49% of men brush their teeth twice a day in the United States (http://www.statisticbrain.com/oral-hygiene-statistics/). Although we did not separate our survey according to gender like the ADA, we found that 74.7% of Stanford students brush their teeth twice a day. While the national study of brushing habits incorporates a much wider array of study participants, our study shows that as a subculture Stanford students have far better dental hygiene habits than the typical American.
Why do Stanford kids brush their teeth?
When we asked our participants why they brushed their teeth we gave them four options to choose from: to prevent plaque and gingivitis, to keep teeth white, to get rid of bad breath or because of habit. While our participants were able to list multiple answers to the question, the most popular (89%) answer was “to keep teeth white.” A close second was the answer, “to get rid of bad breath” which 83.5% of our participants listed as a reason for brushing. The fact that “to keep teeth white” and “to get rid of bad breath” were the most popular answers alludes to the fact that Stanford students brush their teeth primarily to keep up appearances. Out of our ninety one participants, 69.2% said they brushed “to prevent plaque and gingivitis” which was just 1.1% higher than those who said they brushed “out of habit.” These statistics further shows that dental hygiene is not the main purpose most Stanford kids choose to brush their teeth.
Have you ever used a whitening product?
Our next question on the survey once again yielded an answer that showed a largely aesthetic component to dental health at Stanford. When we asked how many of our participants had used whitening products such as crest white strips, special gels or bleaching methods at the dentist’s office 68.1% responded that they had in fact used such products or procedures.
Do you use a manual or electronic toothbrush?
Stanford students are commonly split into two groups--the “techies” and the “fuzzies”—however, our survey showed that when it comes to brushing your teeth at Stanford most prefer the less technological model of the toothbrush. Out of all of our participants only 33% use electric toothbrushes to clean their pearly whites. For a school famous for its technological innovations, 67% of students prefer the old fashioned way of brushing their teeth.
When buying toothpaste what adjectives do you look for on the tube?
Our final question was: When buying toothpaste which adjectives do you look for on the tube? The possible answers included tartar control, gingivitis prevention, whitening, plaque and cavity prevention. The least popular answer had to with dental health with only 12.2% of participants citing that they looked for “gingivitis protection.” A few more respondents reported looking for “tartar control” when purchasing toothpaste. 36.7% said that “plaque control” was important to them. The second-most popular answer was “cavity prevention” at 63.3%. And finally the most popular was unsurprisingly “whitening” at 82.2%. Although we focused our project on the toothbrush the types of adjectives individuals seek in purchasing toothpaste demonstrates which services brushing your teeth affords is the most important.
Our study shows that Stanford students not only have a higher level of oral hygiene than the average American but that they really care about the appearance of their teeth!