[Gingival abrasion and plaque removal with manual vs. electric toothbrushes]

In a clinical study, the relative incidence of gingival injuries after standardized tooth brushing was tested by 22 volunteer dental assistants whose teeth were brushed with a soft multi-tufted toothbrush, a manual V-form toothbrush, and an electric toothbrush. At the beginning of the study, a dental hygienist cleaned the right or left side of the jaw of each subject with a manual V-form toothbrush or an electric toothbrush; the other side was manually cleaned with a multi-tufted toothbrush. At the second cleansing one week later, the same dental hygienist cleaned the side contralateral to that brushed in the first test week with the multi-tufted brush; the manual V-form brush was used instead of the electric toothbrush and vice versa. The number of new gingival lesions was recorded after each brushing. The cleansing effect was established by determining the amount of residual plaque. The subjects did not know which type of toothbrush was used to cleanse the evaluated side of the jaw. The results showed that the manual V-form toothbrush abraded the gingiva more than the electric toothbrush (p less than 0.005). A similar difference was found between the manual multi-tufted and the electric toothbrush (p less than 0.05). No significant differences could be established with respect to the plaque-removing properties of the three types of toothbrush tested.