Comparison of the safety and efficacy of an oscillating/rotating battery-powered toothbrush and a standard manual toothbrush.

Purpose: To compare the cleaning efficacy of a battery-powered toothbrush with an oscillating/rotating action (Dr. Best Powerclean) and a standard flat-trimmed manual toothbrush (Elmex super 39) in a single-blind, cross-over clinical study.
Materials and Methods: 78 healthy subjects took part in the study. Subjects were asked to abstain from all oral hygiene procedures for 48 hours, after which hard and soft oral tissues were examined. Plaque was then scored using the Turesky modification of the Quigley-Hein Index, and subjects were instructed to brush their teeth for a total time of 1 minute with either one or the other brush, according to a predetermined randomization schedule. Immediately after brushing, plaque was scored again and hard and soft tissues were re-examined. All plaque scoring was carried out by the same investigator who was blind with respect to the brushes used. Subjects were instructed to continue with their usual oral care routine throughout the study period. They were scheduled to return after 12-14 days, having again abstained from all oral hygiene for 48 hours prior to the visit, in order to repeat the evaluation sequence but brushing with the alternative brush. Prior to analysis of the results, data from the two phases of the study were combined.
Results: Both toothbrushes were found to be safe as used in the study. Using the non-parametric Wilcoxon test for paired samples, whole mouth plaque scores were found to be reduced significantly from 2.04 +/- 0.60 to 1.57 +/- 0.51 by the Powerclean toothbrush (P < 0.001), and from 1.99 +/- 0.65 to 1.27 +/- 0.52 by the manual toothbrush (P < 0.001). At approximal surfaces, the plaque scores were also significantly reduced from 2.14 +/- 0.0.59 to 1.69 +/- 0.50 for the Powerclean (P < 0.001), and from 2.08 +/- 0.64 to 1.40 +/- 0.57 for the manual toothbrush (P < 0.001). A comparison of the two brushes revealed that the manual toothbrush removed significantly more plaque than the Powerclean, both for the whole mouth and approximal surfaces (P < 0.001). The Powerclean reduced whole mouth plaque by 23.2 +/- 11.5% compared to 37.8 +/- 14.0% for the manual toothbrush and approximal plaque by 20.9 +/- 10.6% and 34.9 +/- 14.0%, respectively. It is concluded that the Dr. Best Powerclean toothbrush is not as effective as a standard flat-trimmed manual toothbrush.