A comparative study of the Philips HP 735, Braun/Oral B D7 and the Oral B 35 Advantage toothbrushes

The aim of this 3-group, 3-treatment, single-blind, parallel group study was to evaluate and compare the efficacies of the Philips/Jordan HP 735 powered toothbrush, the Braun/Oral B D7 powered toothbrush and the Oral B Advantage B35 manual toothbrush in a cohort of 75 young adults (18-25 years). Following an appointment for screening, full mouth mean (+/-sd) modified Turesky plaque index (PI) and Löe & Silness gingival index (GI) were recorded at baseline. After 24 h abstinence from all oral hygiene measures, PI was recorded and each subject was given one of the test brushes with detailed instructions for use. The subject then brushed under supervision for 90 s, during which time mean (+/-sd) toothbrushing forces (TBF) were recorded. PI were recorded immediately after supervised brushing and the subjects were then discharged for 6 weeks to use the allocated toothbrush at home. After 6 weeks, PI, GI and TBF were again recorded. Comparisons between the brushing groups for all parameters, at baseline, 24 h and 6 weeks were tested using ANCOVA. There were no significant differences for PI and GI between groups at baseline, or for PI following supervised brushing at 24 h. After 6 weeks subjects using the powered brushes had lower mean PI (+/-sd) scores than those using manual brushes but the differences were significant only at interproximal sites; HP 735 1.44 (0.52), D7 1.44 (0.53), B35 1.75 (0.51) (p=0.05). At 6 weeks, mean (+/-sd) GI were; HP 735 1.49 (0.21), D7 1.61 (0.21), B35 1.64 (0.22) (p=0.033). Mean GI scores for the HP 735 group were similar at baseline and at 6 weeks although for the other brushes, the GI scores actually increased over this period. Mean (+/-sd) TBF (grammes/force) at baseline and 6 weeks respectively for the brushes were; HP 735 233 (205), D7 159 (58), B35 279 (122) (p=0.026): HP 735 194 (86), D7 141 (57), B35 297 (113) (p=0.0001). The within-group variability for the HP 735 TBF reduced considerably over 6 weeks, a likely consequence of the click-force threshold feature of this brush.