A clinical study of plaque removal with an advanced rechargeable power toothbrush and a battery-operated device

To compare the safety and efficacy of two recently introduced modern power toothbrushes with different characteristics.

This was a single-blind, randomized, crossover study which compared the ability of two power toothbrushes to remove plaque during a 2-minute brushing period. The two brushes were the Braun Oral-B 3D Excel (D17), a rechargeable toothbrush with an oscillating/rotating/pulsating action and the Colgate Actibrush, a battery-operated device with an oscillating/rotating action. Seventy-four healthy subjects from a general population who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria used the two brushes on alternate days for a period of familiarization before returning to the test facility. At this visit, subjects with a whole mouth mean Proximal/Marginal Plaque Index of > or = 2.20 after 23-25 hours of no oral hygiene were randomly assigned to one of two treatment sequences, D17/Actibrush and Actibrush/D17, balanced for age and gender. Subjects brushed with their assigned toothbrush after which post-brushing plaque scores were recorded. After a 2-week washout phase subjects returned to the test facility and brushed with the alternate toothbrush as described. Data from the two visits were pooled, after which plaque removal efficacies were compared. Change from prebrushing treatment means were compared using ANOVA with models appropriate for the crossover design.

Both toothbrushes were found to be safe and both significantly reduced plaque levels (P < or = 0.0001), but the D17 was significantly more effective than the Actibrush for the whole mouth and for approximal sites. Plaque reductions for the D17 were 46.5%, 55.2% and 42.9% for whole mouth, marginal and approximal sites, respectively while reductions for the Actibrush for the whole mouth, marginal, and approximal sites, were 41.5%, 52.5% and 36.8% respectively. It is concluded that the Braun Oral-B D17 may offer advantages in terms of plaque removal over the battery-powered Actibrush, particularly at hard to reach approximal sites.