Effectiveness of chlorhexidine on dental plaque: a new technique

Regular home care by the patient in addition to professional removal of subgingival plaque is generally very effective in controlling most inflammatory periodontal diseases. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness in removing plaque, a new tool for oral hygiene, suitable for any type of population, associating it to the patient's motivation in the early stages of a session of occupational hygiene.

The experiment involved a total of 120 patients. In the initial stages of the professional oral hygiene treatment, there were the values for the percentage of plaque index in all 120 subjects, after application of the agent detector plate, containing erythrosin, in liquid solution. Subsequently, the same operator, used for about two minutes with a woven gauze roller movement toward apico-coronal (Digital Brush, Mycerium, SpA, Avegno, Ge) on all teeth. Soon after it was re-applied the same detector that has enabled us to evaluate the plaque index, after using the digital brush. A statistical analysis has been carried out.

Results show a statistically significant decrease of the averages of plaque index before and after treatment. At the end of the study the 120 patients showed an average index of plaque equal to 74.2, which after the use of the Digital Brush was reduced to 44.3.

The research has shown a very simple and effective treatment's procedure, therefore it should be widely employed in oral hygiene practice.