Plaque removal efficacy of power and manual toothbrushes: a comparative study

The aim of this study was to compare the plaqueremoval efficacy of a new oscillating/rotating/pulsatingtoothbrush [Oral-B® Professional Care® 8500 (PC 8500)]with two manual toothbrushes [Oral-B® CrossAction™Vitalizer (CAV) and Oral-B® Indicator™ (IND), respectively].The safety of the PC 8500 was also assessed. Thestudy was a single-use, observer-masked, randomised 3×3Latin square crossover design balanced for carryovereffects. The enrolled subjects (n=66) refrained frombrushing for 23–25 h before each clinical examination.Plaque scores were recorded before and after brushing withthe allocated toothbrush using the Turesky et al. modificationof the Quigley and Hein plaque index. The safety wasassessed evaluating the soft tissue conditions present after30 days of the use of the PC 8500. The PC 8500 toothbrushwas better in plaque removal efficacy compared with theCAV and IND brushes for full mouth and approximalsurfaces (P<0.01). When marginal surfaces were considered,the PC 8500 was significantly more effective than theIND (P<0.01). No significant differences were foundbetween PC 8500 and CAV (P>0.05). The latter wasshown to be significantly more effective than the IND at alltooth surfaces (P<0.01). Safety examinations revealed theonset of only two small gingival abrasions after the 30-day use of the PC 8500. The PC 8500 toothbrush demonstrated to be more effective in plaque control than the CAV and IND in the full mouth and approximal surfaces and similar to the CAV in the marginal surfaces. The PC 8500 was safe to oral tissues in long-term use.