Comparison of Manual and Electric Toothbrush in Dental Plaque Removal: A Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: Mechanical oral hygiene procedures are the most effective means of plaque removal and toothbrush is the most commonly used tool for mechanical plaque removal worldwide. There is an array of available manual and electric toothbrushes in the market. Thus, choosing the best one for dental plaque removal can be of great help for patients. Objectives: This study aimed at compare the efficacy of dental plaque removal using a manual and an electric toothbrush. Materials and Methods:This experimental, single-blinded sequential clinical trial was conducted on 12 patients (ten females and two males) who aged 21 to 30 years old. The tested manual toothbrush was 35-mm soft Oral-B Pulsar and the electric one was Oral-B Professional Care 8500 DLX chargeable D18. Patients' dental plaque score was set as zero through scaling, root planning, and polishing. Subjects were avoided tooth cleaning for three days and on day four, plaque accumulation was assessed using Tureskey's modification of Quigley and Hein plaque index. Results: The mean of plaque index was 2.13 ± 0.83 and 2.11 ± 1.01 in the manual and electric toothbrush groups, respectively. No significant difference was detected between the study toothbrushes in terms of plaque removal (P = 0.374); however, with the manual tooth brushing, plaque removal was significantly greater in the buccal than in lingual surface and in the maxilla than in the mandible (P = 0.03 and P = 0.015, respectively). Conclusions: Similar to previous studies, this study could not show the superiority of electric toothbrush over manual in plaque removal. After 72 hours, the mean of plaque index was greater in buccal than in lingual surface, which may be attributed to the natural cleansing action of the tongue.

A Randomized Clinical Study of the Plaque Removal Efficacy of a Novel Manual Toothbrush With Micro-Pulse Bristles on Fixed Orthodontic Patients

“…Another study reported a significant difference in the intergroup comparison of the baseline and follow-up plaque index for the orthodontic toothbrush [ 30 ]. In some studies, the improvement in the plaque reduction of the orthodontic toothbrush compared to conventional toothbrushes was not statistically relevant [ 26 , 35 ]; however, there was no report of worsening oral health during re-evaluations.…”

“…On the other hand, studies have reported clinically significant plaque reductions with the Pulsar brush on intact teeth [ 19 - 21 ]. Some studies have compared the Pulsar toothbrush with the powered brushes and did not find a statistically significant difference between the two brushes [ 35 ]. The better performance has been attributed to the special features of this brush, as well as the pressure-sensitive split head that conforms to the contours of the teeth to clean the difficult areas and moderately hard surfaces and maintains a moderate amount of pressure on the teeth and gums.…”

Electric and Manual Oral Hygiene Routines Affect Plaque Index Score Differently

“…Some clinical trials have shown that there is no difference in plaque removal between MTBs and ETBs when proper techniques are followed. In one study, subjects had their teeth brushed by a periodontist [ 39 ] and, in another study, trained dental students were the study subjects [ 37 ]. However, brushing performed by dental professionals is not representative of the brushing practice performed by patients.…”

The Plaque Removal Effectiveness of Powered and Manual Tooth Brush in Children: A Pilot Study

“…Therefore, no additional interdental oral hygiene tools were recommended. Re et al 5 , Silvermann et al 19 , Sheikh-Al-Eslamian et al 18 used the same index to record the dental plaque. Yousaf et al 3 studied with Silness-Löe plaque index, because it can be recorded easily and evaluated in a simple way.…”