A comparative single-use clinical study of the efficacy of two manual toothbrushes with angled bristles

To compare the safety and plaque removal efficacy of two angled-bristled toothbrushes.

The brushes were compared using a single-use, cross-over designed study, where healthy subjects from a normal population brushed their teeth with their assigned toothbrush for a timed 60 seconds. Pre- and post-brushing plaque levels were evaluated after disclosing, using the Proximal/Marginal Plaque Index. At the first visit, 100 subjects with a plaque index of > or = 2.20 after 23-25 hours of no oral hygiene were enrolled in the study. At the end of the study, data from 91 subjects were suitable for analysis. The two treatment sequence groups, X-Aktiv/CrossAction and CrossAction/X-Aktiv, were balanced for age and gender and, at each visit, pre-brushing plaque scores did not differ significantly between the two groups. Data from the two visits were pooled, after which plaque removal efficacies were compared.

Both toothbrushes were found to be safe and both significantly reduced plaque levels (P< or = 0.0001), but the CrossAction was significantly more effective than the X-Aktiv for whole mouth and marginal sites, as well as the difficult-to-access approximal areas (P< or = 0.0008). For the whole mouth, the CrossAction was 11.8% more effective; for marginal sites the difference was 12.6%, and for approximal sites the difference was 11.4%. It is concluded that the Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush is significantly more effective with respect to plaque removal than the Dr. Best X-Aktiv.