Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2020 Dec 15:2020:8819850.
doi: 10.1155/2020/8819850. eCollection 2020.

Accidental Oral Injuries by Electric Toothbrush: A Report of Three Cases

Miki Yamada  1 , Shunsuke Hino  1 , Satoshi Nakamura  1 , Yosuke Iijima  1 , Takahiro Kaneko  1 , Norio Horie  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Accidental Oral Injuries by Electric Toothbrush: A Report of Three Cases

Miki Yamada et al. Case Rep Dent. .

Abstract

In recent years, electric toothbrushes have become widespread. However, injuries caused by electric toothbrushes have rarely been reported. We describe three cases of oral penetrating injuries caused by electric toothbrushes. Case 1 occurred in a disabled boy while brushing due to unexpected movement. In Case 2, a mother using an electric toothbrush had fallen when bumped by her child. Case 3 involved a man using the toothbrush while taking a bath, who slipped in the bathtub. Cases 1 and 3 were using sonic toothbrushes, and Case 2 was using an oscillating-rotating toothbrush. Electric toothbrushes can cause oral penetrating injuries and infections in the same manner as manual toothbrushes. Prevention of oral trauma requires familiarity with the form and function of electric toothbrushes. Some room for improvement remains in optimizing the form of electric toothbrushes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The two types of electric toothbrush. (a) Sonic toothbrush. (b) Oscillating-rotating toothbrush. (c) Electric toothbrushes and manual toothbrushes with scale.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Case 1. The head of an electric toothbrush, taped by paramedics, is seen penetrating the right buccal mucosa.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Case 1. The wound after removal of the head of the electric toothbrush.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Case 1. The removed electric toothbrush, showing no apparent damage.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Case 2. Photograph about 15 h after the accident. The margin of the left soft palate is crushed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Matsusue Y., Yamamoto K., Horita S., Inagake K., Kirita T. Impalement injuries of the oral cavity in children. Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. 2011;69(6):e147–e151. doi: 10.1016/j.joms.2010.12.027. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rao D. P., McFaull S. Tooth 'aches': injuries related to toothbrush use. Paediatrics & Child Health. 2019;24(1):e40–e44. doi: 10.1093/pch/pxy073. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saravanan B. Toothbrush injury in an adult. Indian Journal of Dental Research. 2010;21(3):446–448. doi: 10.4103/0970-9290.70797. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Inoue N. Oral injuries in children presenting to a Japanese pediatric emergency room. Pediatrics International. 2017;59(7):826–830. doi: 10.1111/ped.13299. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Umibe A., Omura K., Hachisu T., Anazawa U., Tanaka Y. Life-threatening injury caused by complete impalement of a toothbrush: case report. Dental Traumatology. 2017;33(4):317–320. doi: 10.1111/edt.12346. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources