Efficacy of an electric toothbrush on plaque control compared to two manual toothbrushes

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to compare an electric toothbrush with two manual toothbrushes, in their relative efficacy to control plaque.

Design: Randomised clinical trial.

Setting: Kerman Dental School, Iran.

Participants: Forty-five volunteer dental students were randomly assigned to one of three groups. All subjects received a baseline plaque assessment using O'Leary plaque index, and then a prophylaxis to achieve the plaque index of zero. Subjects were trained to brush twice daily, with their assigned device and return after 1week and then after 2weeks for plaque assessment. Chi-squared and ANOVA were mainly used.

Main outcome measure: Plaque assessment using O'Leary plaque index.

Results: Although Jordan toothbrush consistently resulted in lower plaque indices compared to both manual toothbrushes, those differences were not statistically significant, F(2, 42)=2.45, P=0.10. Plaque reduction from week 1 to week 2 was significant in Jordan Power group (60%, from 13.46 to 5.44, P=0.010) and Panbehriz Classic group (53%, from 20.92 to 9.91, P=0.007).

Conclusion: The results of this study shows no evidence of statistically significant difference in respect to plaque control, between Jordan Power electric toothbrush and either of Oral-B Advantage or Panbehriz Classic manual brushes in a group of dental students after 2weeks.

Figure 1.

Flow of participants through each stage.

Figure 2.

Plot of model estimated means for the three toothbrush groups for each of the three visits of the study (consider that all plaque indices were zeroed after baseline assessment).