世論 What Japan Thinks

This week too was a bit thin for silly surveys, so the best I can do for you today is a not really silly and not really very long, but quite interesting pair of surveys from DIMSDRIVE Research’s 133rd ranking survey on two Japanese teeth-related subjects, frequency of brushing and oral care other than brushing.

Demographics

Both surveys were conducted between the 16th and 24th of January 2008. The first had 12,020 respondents with 52.9% female, the second 11,963 with 53.0% female.

You’ll notice in the second question that regular check-ups feature really quite low, and flossing or inter-dental brushing (uggh, dislike both and don’t bother myself) feature nowhere, not even in the detailed run-down of the results by age group. Also, there are only about 5,000 votes in total, which means about half the population don’t take extra any oral care bar brushing. For those of you who have experienced oyaji breath you might be surprised to learn that it was young men rather than older ones who were more likely to brush less than once a day or not at all.

I also chew Xylitol gum after every meal at home; PLUS X Gum from Lotte is exceptionally nice.

Ranking results

Q1: How often do you usually brush your teeth? (Sample size=12,020)

	Votes	Percentage
Three or more times a day	2,240	18.6%
Two times a day	6,029	50.2%
One time a day	3,434	28.6%
Less than one time a day	260	2.2%
Don’t brush my teeth	48	0.4%
Don’t know	9	0.1%

Q1: How often do you usually brush your teeth? (Sample size=12,020, by sex)

	Votes (Male)	Percentage (Male)	Votes (Female)	Percentage (Female)
Three or more times a day	780	13.8%	1,460	23.0%
Two times a day	2,576	45.5%	3,453	54.3%
One time a day	2,056	36.3%	1,378	21.7%
Less than one time a day	205	3.6%	55	0.9%
Don’t brush my teeth	43	0.8%	5	0.1%
Don’t know	4	0.1%	5	0.1%

Q2: Other than brushing your teeth, what methods for maintaining oral health do you practice? (Sample size=11,963, free answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Gargle	2,463	20.6%
Chew gum	1,288	10.8%
Drink green tea	338	2.8%
Clean tongue	271	2.3%
Visit dentist regularly	179	1.5%
Drink lots of water	168	1.4%
Suck breath freshening mints	107	0.9%
Massage gums	106	0.9%
Limit consumption of sweet foods	100	0.8%
Use a toothpick	87	0.7%

Q2: Other than brushing your teeth, what methods for maintaining oral health do you practice? (Sample size=11,963, by sex, free answer)

	Votes (Male)	Percentage (Male)		Votes (Female)	Percentage (Female)
Gargle	1,159	20.6%	Gargle	1,304	20.6%
Chew gum	500	8.9%	Chew gum	788	12.4%
Drink green tea	104	1.8%	Drink green tea	234	3.7%
Clean tongue	102	1.8%	Clean tongue	169	2.7%
Use a toothpick	63	1.1%	Visit dentist regularly	127	2.0%
Drink lots of water	56	1.0%	Drink lots of water	112	1.8%
Visit dentist regularly	52	0.9%	Suck breath freshening mints	72	1.1%
Massage gums	46	0.8%	Limit consumption of sweet foods	67	1.1%
Suck breath freshening mints	35	0.6%	Massage gums	60	0.9%
Limit consumption of sweet foods	33	0.6%	Limit eating between meals	38	0.6%