Research on the Ergonomic Design of Pet Dog Toothbrush Neck

Abstract

Using a toothbrush to clean the teeth for a pet dog is the best way to maintain the pet’s oral health. Meanwhile, the angle of a toothbrush neck can influence the posture and brushing strength of the pet caretaker, thereby affecting the cleaning efficiency. In order to compare the cleaning efficiency of pet dog toothbrushes with varied neck types, 20 volunteers with dog caring experience were selected. A medium-sized dog tooth model coated with water soluble pigment was provided to each volunteer, and then she/he was asked to brush the model for three minutes, using a specific type of pet dog toothbrush. Such process was repeated for each of 5 toothbrushes with varied neck types (all other elements remained the same), while different neck types were provided to each volunteer in random sequence. The pigment areas of the incisors, canines, and molars before and after tooth brushing were measured and calculated to speculate the cleaning efficiency of the toothbrush. At the end of the experiment, each subject was asked to evaluate five toothbrushes with respect to operating comfortability. The experimental results showed that the toothbrushes with backward tilting angle at the upper section of their brush necks performed significantly better than the other four groups of toothbrushes in cleaning molar and canine teeth, while the toothbrushes with backward tilting angle at the lower section, and with the upper section parallel to the brush handle were more comfortable in operation.