Tooth Brushing Practice in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract Background: Oral hygiene refers to taking care and maintaining the cleanness of gum and teeth; a good oral hygiene practice promotes better oral health in general. Oral hygiene is the top public health concern of the population. Tooth brushing is a technique to keep oral hygiene from related complications. Therefore, this study provides the pooled prevalence of tooth brushing practice in Ethiopia. Methods: Databases searched for articles systematically across PubMed, Google Scholar, Hinari, EMBASE, and African Journals Online. Two reviewers independently conducted the selection, screening, reviewing, and data extraction using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and used the Joanna Briggs Institute prevalence critical appraisal tools to assess the quality of evidence. All studies conducted in Ethiopia from 2010 to 2020, reporting tooth-brushing practices extracted for and imported into the Comprehensive meta-analysis version 3.0 for further analysis. Beggs and Eggers’s tests evaluated for publication bias with Higgins’s method evaluated for heterogeneity. A random-effects meta-analysis model with a 95% confidence interval was computed to estimate the pooled effect size (prevalence). Furthermore, the authors employed subgroup analysis based on the study area and sample size. Results and Conclusion: After reviewing 36, 10 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria, and were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of tooth brushing practice was 12.2 % (95% CI: 7.6%-19.2%). The review reported a lower level of tooth-brushing practice in Ethiopia. We recommended that special attention should be given to the oral hygiene of the Ethiopian people.