Effectiveness of plaque removal with an experimental chewable brush in children between age 9 and 13 years

To evaluate the effectiveness of plaque removal of an experimental chewable brush in comparison with a manual brush in children between age 9 and 13 years.

This single blinded randomised controlled study included a total of 60 healthy children between age 9 and 13 years that fulfilled the selection criteria. Selected children were randomly assigned to manual toothbrush group (MT) and chewable toothbrush group (CT). Children were instructed to use the respective toothbrushes under supervision. Effectiveness of plaque removal was evaluated by recording Turesky's modification of Quigley-Hein index scores (TMQHI) before and after brushing on single use. Difference in the pre-brushing and post-brushing plaque scores between the groups were statistically compared by using Mann-Whitney U test.

TMQHI plaque scores of selected children for the MT and CT groups was found to be statistically similar before using the toothbrush (p = 0.072). Difference between overall plaque reduction scores were found to be 1.0 for MT and 1.13 for CT, which did not reveal statistical significance (p = 0.308). In order to evaluate efficiency of chewable toothbrush, TMQHI scores for buccal and lingual scores were analysed separately, and found no statistical significance in plaque removal on either surfaces (p = 0.944 for buccal, p = 0.080 for lingual).

Chewable toothbrush was found to be as effective in total plaque removal as manual tooth brushing in the children between age 9 and 13 years. The chewable brush may be an appropriate oral hygiene adjunct for school children spending a considerable amount of time out of home.