Objective

To investigate the effect of a new powered toothbrush with tapered bristles on the brush head for the reduction of dental plaque and gingivitis.

Methods

This was a single-centre, single-group, longitudinal clinical trial. Thirty-two participants who were typical manual toothbrush users were recruited and assigned the sonic-powered brush. Interviews were arranged on the 1st, 4th, and 15th days which represented the baseline (T1), middle (T2) and final (T3) time points, respectively. At each visit, the plaque index (PlI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP) and probing depth (PD) were recorded for the Ramfjord index teeth, gingival crevicular fluid(GCF) samples were collected and the proportions of eight periodontal pathogenic bacteria were analysed. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for comparisons at different time points.

Results

PlI was significantly reduced by 41.67% from T1 to T2 (p<0.001) and decreased by 18.57% from T2 to T3 (p=0.003). GI also varied significantly from T1 to T2 (p=0.018) and T1 to T3 (p=0.037). A 35.86% reduction in the BOP percentage occurred after using the sonic-powered toothbrush for 3 days (p=0.001). However, no significant difference was observed in the mean values of PD at different examination intervals (p=0.529). There was no significant difference in the proportions of bacteria between T1 and T3 (p>0.05).

Conclusion

This research demonstrated the efficacy of the sonic-powered brush handle together with tapered bristles on the brush in reducing plaque and gingivitis within a short time period.