Effect of Ultra-Soft and Soft Toothbrushes on the Removal of Plaque and Tooth Abrasion

Abstract

To improve the oral health status of Korean people, it is necessary to encourage proper oral hygiene management habits, such as toothbrushing, through appropriate health promotion techniques. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the removal of plaque and tooth abrasion using ultra-soft (filament 0.11∼0.12 mm) and soft toothbrushes for toothbrushing. The plaque removal was performed using a dentiform and Arti-spray, and the Patient Hygiene Performance (PHP) index was calculated as the sum total score divided by the total number of surfaces. In the abrasivity experiment, according to the number of brushings, a micro Vickers hardness tester was used, and a sample in the range of 280∼380 Vickers hardness number was selected. The number of toothbrushing stroke were 1,800 (2 months), 5,400 (6 months), 10,800 (12 months), and 21,600 (24 months). The tooth abrasion was measured using a scanning electron microscope. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 and a p-value ＜0.05 was considered significant. According to the results, there was no statistically significant difference in the degree of plaque removal between ultra-soft and soft toothbrushes. The difference in tooth abrasion between before and after toothbrushing was found to be greater with the soft toothbrushes than with the ultra-soft toothbrushes. Therefore, the ultra-soft toothbrush not only lowers tooth damage by reducing tooth abrasion, but also shows a similar ability to remove plaque as soft toothbrushes.

Surface roughness difference of bis-acryl provisional crown material under different toothbrush filament and toothpaste abrasive degree

“…8 This study discovered that the roughness value of soft-filament toothbrushes was lower than that of medium-filament toothbrushes, and the group brushed with lowabrasive toothpaste had a lower surface roughness value compared to that with high abrasive toothpaste. These are in accordance with the research of Jeong et al 16 , which stated that brushing with a soft-filament toothbrush produced a lower surface roughness value than brushing with a medium-filament toothbrush. This result might occur because soft-filament toothbrushes have the capability to spread small amounts 0,41 ± 0,18 0,36 ± 0,13 0,4 ± 0,15 0,25 ± 0,09 of toothpaste.…”

Comparison of the plaque-removal efficacy of ultra-soft single-headed, triple-headed, and T-shaped toothbrushes and the subjective perceptions of users

“…Furthermore, after using the ultra-soft single-headed toothbrush, most of the present study participants considered that the degree of perceived cleanliness obtained was similar to that achieved with the other toothbrushes, whereas in fact the observed plaque score reduction from the baseline was approximately 36%, being lower than the reduction achieved with the other brushes. The diameter of bristles commonly used in toothbrushes has been reported to range from 0.12 mm (ultra-soft ) to 0.15 mm (extra-soft ), 0.18 mm (soft), 0.2 mm (medium), and 0.23 mm (hard) [8,10,27,28]. In this study, T-shaped and triple-headed toothbrushes with soft bristles measuring 0.163-0.165 mm in diameter were used.…”

“…Third, given that toothbrush selection followed the preference and recommendations of the patients, the diameter of the bristles was not uniform. Fourth, the use of only plaque control records to determine plaque-removal efficacy was insufficient, and the use of other measurements, such as the Turesky Plaque Index and Bleeding Index are recommended for future studies [8,10]. Finally, due to the single-test study design, the possible occurrence of gingival abrasion after the long-term use of toothbrushes [39] was not evaluated.…”

“…Recently, toothbrushes with ultra-soft bristles have been commercialized for plaque control in individuals with gingival recession or dentin hypersensitivity. Jeong et al (2018) reported that ultra-soft toothbrushes have a similar efficacy to soft toothbrushes in removing plaque and reducing dental abrasion [8]. However, it has also been reported that while the use of ultra-soft toothbrushes can reduce the plaque index relative to the baseline, the decrease does not attain an optimal level, which may affect recommendations for their use [9,10].…”