The Effect of a New Electric Toothbrush on Supragingival Plaque and Gingivitis

Abstract

This study tested the effectiveness of a rechargeable electric toothbrush, Interplak, in removing supragingival plaque and resolving gingivitis. Forty adults with gingivitis were randomly assigned to either a "manual" or "electric" group. Detailed oral hygiene instructions were given and a blind examiner assessed plaque scores before and after brushing, toothbrush abrasion, and gingival inflammation at baseline, 1, 2, and 4 weeks. Subjects using the electric brush had significantly lower (P less than 0.05) mean plaque and gingival inflammation scores. The electric group's plaque scores fell from 77% at baseline to 28% (before brushing) and 14% (after brushing) at 4 weeks; the manual group's dropped from 75% to 50% and 30% (before and after brushing, respectively). The mean G.I. for the electric group fell from 1.65 at baseline to 1.28 at 4 weeks, while the manual group's scores decreased from 1.65 to 1.43. The results suggest that the electric brush removed supragingival plaque and resolved gingivitis better than the manual brush over a 28-day period. However, a telephone survey conducted 6 months later indicated that most subjects were not using the device twice a day as they had during the study.

A comparison of the efficacy of powered and manual toothbrushes in controlling plaque and gingivitis: a clinical study

“…In comparing the gingival index scores for these groups, both showed a reduction in gingival inflammation, but it was not statistically significant. This is in contrast to a study conducted by Baab DA,37 in which a group using an electrical brush had a statistically significant reduction in gingival index score to that of a manual toothbrush.…”

Influence of the Sonic Power Toothbrush on Reduction of Gingival inflammation and on the Amount of Interleukin-6, Prevotella intermedia and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans in Periodontal Pocket

“…The clinical result of this study suggest the superiority in the electric toothbrush group and confirm the findings of Johnson and McInnes [29][30][31] who also compared the ability to remove plaque of Sonicare with the manual group. There are several other studies which are in agreement mentioned above using various kinds of action modes in electric brushes such as counter-rotary brush 23,25) , reciprocating device 25) and circular brush with rotating and oscillating motion 24) . Biochemical inflammatory changes of cytokine IL-6 were detected in the Sonicare group during 12 week interval to measure the resolution of inflammation and significant reduction in the follow-up period.…”

“…There are several studies trying to Figure out the efficacy of electric toothbrushes on the plaque removal and gingivitis [23][24][25] using the clinical parameters like plaque (PI), gingival index (GI) and bleeding on probing (BOP) and more recently, investigators looked at the effects on the chronic periodontitis for which other parameters such as probing pocket depth (PPD) or clinical attachment level (CAL) are needed to be involved 9,26,27) . These parameters are classical gold standards to diagnose the periodontal disease in severity but have the limitations to show the disease activity or to monitor the sites and subjects at the risk of progression 28) .…”

Comparison of sonic and ionic toothbrush in reduction in plaque and gingivitis

“…[1213] To avoid such problems, we chose to use a standardized period of at least 24 hours of plaque accumulation before each recall visit. This might have also reduced the “How thorne effect?,” that is, the patients brush more consciously on the day of recall.…”