Comparative Study of the Plaque Removal Efficacy of Three Types of Toothbrushes in Patients with Fixed Orthodontic Appliances

Abstract

Introduction:Patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances have a challenging oral hygiene situation because brackets tenaciously trap food and other oral debris.Good plaque control is an important factor in the maintenance of dental health during fixed appliance therapy. Many different types of specially designed toothbrushes have been developed in recent years in order to improve the plaque removal. One of these new developments is a manual triple headed brush which is called 'superbrush' which is intended to clean the oral, buccal and occlusal surfaces of the teeth at one time. A clinical study was planned to evaluate the effectiveness of plaque removal by using the new triple headed toothbrush compared to the conventional manual toothbrush and an orthodontic toothbrush. Methods: A total of 75 patients, aged between 18 and 28 years, were equally divided into three groups: Group I (triple headed toothbrush), group II (orthodontic toothbrush) and group III (conventional toothbrush). The gingival index (Loe and Silness, 1963) and plaque index (Turesky Gilmore and Glickman, 1962) were recorded at baseline, month 1, month 2, month 3 and month 4, and results were subjected to statistical analysis utilizing ANOVA one way and multiple comparison Tukey's HSD test. Results: Comparison of the mean gingival and plaque index scores and difference in mean plaque scores between the groups was done and found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion:The study indicated that the triple headed toothbrush was more efficient in reduction of plaque scores and improvement in gingival index scores overall, and more effective in removal of plaque from tooth surfaces compared to the other two toothbrushes.

Enhancement of Plaque Removal Efficiency in Children Brush Design or Awareness?

“…Sağlıklı çocuk ve erişkinlerde yapılan pek çok benzer çalışmada da aynı şekilde 3 boyutlu diş fırçası anlamlı derecede başarılı bulunmuştur. 3,[22][23][24] Ayrıca ortodontik tedavi gören hastalarda, oral hijyeni geliştirmede pratik bir alternatif olacağı belirtilmiş olup, tek başına kullanıldığında ortodontik diş fırçalarına göre daha etkin plak temizlediği gözlemlenmiştir. 10,12 Engelli çocuklarda üç farklı diş fırçasının karşılaş-tırıldığı bir çalışmada, en başarılı elektrikli diş fır-çası bulunur iken, 3 boyutlu diş fırçasının da klasik fırçaya iyi bir alternatif olacağı öne sürülmüştür.…”

Efficacy of Interdental Brush as an Adjunct to Manual Toothbrush on Gingival Status in Patients undergoing Fixed Orthodontic Therapy: A Clinical Study

“…Tooth brushing is the most commonly used tool for plaque removal, other aids such as powered toothbrush, dental floss, IDB, toothpicks and oral irrigation devices are also used, but much less commonly. 3 Although regular toothbrush is successful in removing plaque from specific tooth surfaces, it cannot completely remove plaque around and beneath the brackets. As an adjunct to regular brushing, IDB, which are small-headed brushes, provide better access behind the archwire and reduce plaque accumulation than tooth brushing alone.…”