In-vivo Plaque Removal Efficacy of Two Brush Heads

Objectives: The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of two different brush heads for oscillation-rotation toothbrushes in a randomized clinical trial.

Methods: This study was a randomized, 2-treatment, 4-period cross-over design examining single-use plaque removal of Oral-B Sensitive (OBS) vs. Dr. Best Hoch-Tief-Weich (DBHTW) brush heads, both used on Oral-B Professional Care 1000 (D20) handles. 28 subjects with evidence of overnight plaque were randomized to one of four treatment sequences. Plaque was scored before (baseline) and after brushing using an extended Turesky Modified Quigley-Hein Index (TMQH). ANCOVA was used to analyze the post-brushing plaque with baseline scores as covariate.

Results: 28 subjects completed the study, mean age was 35 years ranging from 20-68, 46% of subjects were female. Baseline mean TMQH scores of both brushes ranged between 2.678 and 2.735 for whole mouth and between 2.749 and 2.800  for approximal regions and didn’t differ significantly (p=0.132 whole mouth, p=0.200 approximal). Adjusted mean TMQH reductions were 1.427 for OBS versus 1.271 for DBHTW (whole mouth), and 1.344 for OBS versus 1.178 for DBHTW (approximal). This corresponds to significant relative differences of 12.3% (p<0.001) for whole mouth and 14.1% (p<0.001) in approximal regions in favor of the OBS brush head.

Conclusions: The OBS brush removed statistically more plaque compared to the DBHTW brush, both in whole mouth and in approximal regions.