Microbial Contamination of Power Toothbrushes - Essay Example

"Microbial Contamination of Power Toothbrushes" is a delightful example of a paper on dental health.
Morris, Goldschmidt, Keene, and Stanley G are the authors of the research in the article for critique. They perform laboratory analysis to unveil the level of microbial contamination between the two toothbrush designs. The authors randomly sampled forty participants between 25 to 70 years for the experiment. The results of the research are unreliable as they relied on the participants’ honesty. The participants can easily distort or exaggerating giving unreliable results. The study fails to specify the gender, race, age, and sex distribution in the sample in the introduction.

The authors transformed statistical results to ease calculations of mean and standard deviations. The results from the analysis of the average and standard deviation were the most appropriate in this kind of comparison. Analysis of discrepancy and Fisher’s precise test for categorical variables were utilized to compare the demographic characteristics of the three brush groups. The results showed that more residual microorganisms were present in the hollow heads compared to the solid head power brush. That shows that the hollow designs provided a large surface area for microbial activities.

However, there exist difficulties ascertaining the reliability of the results. The research relied on the participants’ honesty that could induce errors in the data. The research fails to account for other factors including an individual’s health, diet, and general hygiene that determine the residual microbial concentrations in the toothbrushes (Morris et al., 2009). Confining the participants in one place for the research period is essential.

Although the study is advantageous, there should have been an inclusion of a larger number of participants. The study should subject all the participants to similar treatment for the complete research period to check on the result validity. The results are subject to questioning if it fails to include this. No further studies link microbial toothbrush contamination with systemic diseases. The article states in the introduction and, therefore, the relevance of the research is questionable.