A clinical study of comparative plaque removal performance of two manual toothbrushes

A single-blind, two-phase cross-over clinical trial compared the plaque removal performance of two commercially available manual toothbrushes, Colgate Precision Full Head soft and Crest Complete soft. One hundred and one eligible adult male and female subjects refrained from toothbrushing for 24 hours and were then scored for dental plaque using the Rustogi, et al. refinement of the Modified Navy Plaque Index (Rustogi, et al. Index) on the facial and lingual surfaces of all natural teeth. Upon qualifying, subjects were stratified according to Mean Plaque Index (MPI) values and randomly assigned to one of two balanced groups. Seven days later, having refrained from oral hygiene procedures for a period of 24 hours, subjects returned for plaque scoring and the initial test toothbrushing. Their plaque was disclosed with a red disclosing solution and pre-brushing plaque scores were recorded. Subjects were assigned a test toothbrush (according to group) and brushed for an unsupervised, timed 60 seconds. They returned to the clinic and were again disclosed and evaluated for plaque. These post-brushing plaque scores were also recorded. This completed Visit 1. Subjects were instructed to resume their normal, unsupervised routine and return to the clinical site one week later for Visit 2, again with 24-hour oral hygiene abstention. At that time the alternate test toothbrush was assigned to each group in a cross-over design. Plaque scoring, toothbrushing and repeat plaque scorings were performed and recorded as at Visit 1. Before and after disclosing, plaque scoring and toothbrushing were again performed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)