Effects of Bristle Hardness & Duration of Manual Tooth brushing on Plaque Control

Abstract

Background: Oral health is an integral part of general health. Poor oral health can have adverse effect on general health hence a good oral health is very essential, which in turn is achieved by good oral hygiene. Even though, the concept of good oral hygiene evolved 5000 years back, it is only in the beginning of 19th century it gained more importance. (1) Dental caries and periodontal disease are the most commonly occurring diseases affecting mankind. Dental plaque is a very important factor in the causation of both the diseases. (2) Aims & Objectives: To evaluate efficacy of four different types of toothbrushes, with difference in duration of brushing along with different bristle hardness in removal of microbial plaque. Material & Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, four groups with 40 subjects used manual toothbrushes with either hard, medium, soft and ultra-soft bristles. On baseline examination, clinical parameter plaque index (Sillness & Loe, 1964) was recorded. Selected subjects were refrained from all kinds of oral hygiene measures for 24 hrs before clinical appointment. On the day of clinical appointment scores of pre and post brushing were recorded in each patient when brushing time was set for 1 minute and same procedure was repeated after a wash off period of 3 days and similar recordings were made with brushing time of 11/2minute. Primary outcome was measured with differences in the plaque index (Sillness & Loe, 1964) compared to baseline. Results: Significant reduction in mean value of plaque score was observed on comparing pre-brushing and post-brushing data in all the subjects irrespective of bristle hardness in both 1 minute and 11/2 minute groups. On increasing time duration from 1 minute to 11/2 minute intergroup comparison revealed that significant correlation exist in mean plaque score reduction in subjects using medium bristle brush, soft bristle brush, ultra-soft bristle brush. However, no significant reduction in plaque score was observed on increasing duration from 1 minute to 11/2 minute in subjects using hard bristle brush. Conclusion: Manual toothbrushes with hard bristles better remove plaque, but may also cause more soft tissue trauma compared to brushes with softer bristles.

Practices of oral health maintenance, caries protective factors and caries experience in adults in Sekeloa Region

“…19 Brushing teeth with hard bristles may remove plaque better than soft bristles do, but more potentially cause soft tissue trauma. 25 In this study, as many as 57.38% of respondents use tools other than toothbrushes to clean their teeth, which are toothpicks. No respondents are using other types of interdental cleaners.…”

“…Some respondents 14.75% always brush their teeth after breakfast and 44.26% always brush their teeth before going to bed at night, only 11.48% do at the recommended times (after breakfast and before going to bed at night). Most respondents claim to brush their teeth for 2 minutes or more (60.66%) and brush all surfaces of the teeth The practices of oral health maintenance are categorized as good (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40), adequate (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31), and bad (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). Table 3 shows the practices of oral health maintenance of respondents with 50.82% being adequate, 47.54% good, while a small portion of 1.64% being bad category (Table 3).…”

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

“…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].…”