Clinical Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of a New Sonic Toothbrush

Abstract

The efficacy and safety of a new sonic toothbrush were studied in this single-blind study. The sonic toothbrush combines acoustic vibrations and dynamic fluid activity surrounding the bristles with direct mechanical scrubbing of tooth surfaces. Fifty-one subjects were randomly assigned to either the sonic or the manual toothbrush. Plaque scores were assessed before and after a 2-minute brushing at baseline and 1, 2, and 4 weeks. Gingivitis and sulcular bleeding scores were also taken at each evaluation. To assess long-term safety, 29 subjects returned after 6 months of product use. Repeated measures analysis of variance of the total mean plaque score indicated a significant difference between the devices over time (P < 0.01), with the sonic toothbrush demonstrating a greater level of plaque removal on all tooth surfaces. On average, the plaque reduction from the baseline score for the sonic toothbrush was 3 times greater than the manual brush. However, when broken down by dental region, the sonic toothbrush demonstrated an improved level of plaque removal ranging from 1.5 to 11.9 times better than the manual brush, with the greatest improvement in the interproximal and lingual areas. Both the gingivitis and sulcular bleeding scores exhibited a similar, significant reduction (P < 0.005) over time for both devices with an approximate 17% decrease in the gingivitis index and a 33% decrease in sulcular bleeding sites. Safety assessment after 6 months of use indicated no soft tissue abnormalities which could be attributed to the products.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Plaque and Gingivitis Reduction in Patients Undergoing Orthodontic Treatment with Fixed Appliances?Comparison of Toothbrushes and Interdental Cleaning Aids

“…However, research on the efficacy of sonic toothbrushes with participants not wearing any kind of fixed orthodontic appliances illustrates the advantage sonic toothbrushes have compared to the ordinary manual ones in terms of plaque reduction [24,41,44,45]. Our study only evaluated the interproximal and vestibular surfaces of teeth with brackets.…”

“…Studien, in denen die Effektivität von Schall-Zahnbürs-ten bei Probanden ohne festsitzende kieferorthopädische Apparaturen untersucht wurde, verdeutlichten jedoch bei der Plaquereduktion einen Vorteil der Schall-Zahnbürsten gegenüber herkömmlichen manuellen Bürsten [24,41,44,45]. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden nur die mit Brackets beklebten vestibulären und approximalen Zahnflächen bewertet.…”

Sonic tooth brushing reduces gingival overgrowth in renal transplant recipients

“…The powered toothbrush has been shown to be superior to the manual type in reducing phenytoin-associated DIGO [6]. In healthy patients a sonic toothbrush was shown to increase patient compliance with oral home care and was superior in removing supragingival plaque when compared with the manual toothbrush [7][8][9][10][11]. In addition, the oral hygiene status of the patient has been demonstrated to contribute to both the prevalence and the severity of DIGO [12][13][14][15][16].…”

Powered Toothbrush vs Manual Toothbrush: Generation X of Mechanical Plaque Control

“…The results showed that electric toothbrushes are more effective than manual. Bradley et al 23 assessed the reduction in supragingival plaque, gingivitis, and sulcular bleeding after brushing with the sonic toothbrush or a manual brush. The study design was a randomized single-blind, controlled clinical study.…”