Lunchtime brushing of Japanese teeth

There’s enough people in the office who brush their teeth at lunchtime to block access to the sinks, so I was interested in this recent survey from iShare into brushing teeth in the office to see how widespread such habits were.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 13th of May 2010 498 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.2% of the sample were male, 31.5% in their twenties, 33.1% in their thirties, and 35.3% in their forties.

Some of the top reasons for brushing at work were to protect against decay or bad breath, and people not liking the feeling if they don’t brush. For the non-brushers at work, they said they didn’t have time, it was too much bother, they don’t have a toothbrush at work, there’s nowhere to brush, and they didn’t like brushing in the toilet.

I don’t bother brushing at work for probably most of the reasons listed above; at home I rarely brush, but instead I usually chew gum.

Research results

Q1: Do you use toothpaste when brushing your teeth at home? (Sample size=498)

	All	Male N=280	Female N=218
Always (to SQ)	71.9%	67.1%	78.0%
Usually (to SQ)	10.8%	10.7%	11.0%
Usually not	7.2%	9.6%	4.1%
Never	10.0%	12.5%	6.9%

Q1SQ: What is most important when choosing a toothpaste for home use? (Sample size=412)

	All	Male N=218	Female N=194
Contains ingredients to protect against periodontitis	24.0%	21.6%	26.8%
Contains ingredients to protect against tooth decay	21.6%	23.4%	19.6%
Feeling of freshness	15.5%	17.4%	13.4%
Contains stain-removing ingredients	12.1%	11.0%	13.4%
Maker, brand	4.6%	3.7%	5.7%
Flavour	3.9%	1.8%	6.2%
Contains ingredients to protect against bad breath	3.6%	4.6%	2.6%
Package design	1.7%	2.3%	1.0%
Other	12.9%	14.2%	11.3%

Q2: Do you brush your teeth after lunch at home? (Sample size=498)

	All	Male N=280	Female N=218
Always	8.6%	7.5%	10.1%
Usually	17.5%	13.6%	22.5%
Usually not	44.0%	42.5	45.9%
Never	29.9%	36.4%	21.6%

Q3: Have you eaten lunch at your current place of work? (Sample size=498)

	All	Male N=280	Female N=218
Yes (to SQ1)	70.7%	79.3%	59.6%
No	12.4%	11.1%	14.2%
Don’t work	16.9%	9.6%	26.1%

Q3SQ1: Do you brush your teeth after lunch at work? (Sample size=352)

	All	Male N=222	Female N=130
Always (to SQ2)	17.3%	8.6%	32.3%
Usually (to SQ2)	10.8%	8.6%	14.6%
Usually not	25.6%	26.1%	24.6%
Never	46.3%	56.8%	28.5%

Not surprisingly, home brushers were more likely to be work brushers too.

Q3SQ2: Do you use toothpaste when brushing your teeth at work? (Sample size=99)

	All	Male N=38	Female N=61
Always (to SQ3)	83.8%	76.3%	88.5%
Usually (to SQ3)	12.1%	18.4%	8.2%
Usually not (to SQ3)	3.0%	5.3%	1.6%
Never	1.0%	0.0%	1.6%

Q3SQ3: What is most important when choosing a toothpaste for work use? (Sample size=96)

	All	Male N=38	Female N=58
Feeling of freshness	22.1%	25.0%	20.3%
Contains ingredients to protect against bad breath	17.9%	16.7%	18.6%
Contains ingredients to protect against tooth decay	14.7%	19.4%	11.9%
Contains ingredients to protect against periodontitis	12.6%	13.9%	11.9%
Maker, brand	8.4%	5.6%	10.2%
Contains stain-removing ingredients	7.4%	5.6%	8.5%
Flavour	5.3%	2.8%	6.8%
Package design	5.3%	5.6%	5.1%
Other	6.3%	5.6%	6.8%