IADR Abstract Archives
Access Efficacy In Vitro Study of New Sensitive Sonic Toothbrush
Objectives: The GUM Sensitive Clean Sonic toothbrush with soft tapered filament bristles was designed for a sensitive gum condition. The objective was to evaluate the ability of the new sensitive toothbrush to access interproximal and subgingival spaces compared to commercially available sensitive manual and sonic toothbrushes.
Methods: An automated brushing system with a tooth model simulating anterior and posterior tooth shapes was used. Prior to brushing, the model teeth were wrapped with a multi-layer strip coated with artificial plaque. Teeth were brushed with 30 50-millimeter horizontal stroke cycles, 90-degree angle and 250-gram force. After brushing, removal of the coating was evaluated. Interproximal and subgingival accesses were measured as the maximum width of the removed coating and the maximum length of the removed coating below the gingival margin, respectively. Both interproximal and subgingival accesses were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s test at 95% confidence level. The stiffness of the toothbrush bristles was assessed using a tensile/compression testing machine.
Results: The new sonic toothbrush was tested and compared to four soft or extra soft bristle toothbrushes: Sensodyne Sensitive manual, Oral-B Sensi-Soft Ultra Soft manual, Colgate360 Enamel Health Sensitive manual and Sonicare 3-Series with the Gum Health head. The results showed the test toothbrush has higher efficacy in interproximal (13.8mm vs. 8.68mm, 7.32mm, 9.15mm and 8.38mm, respectively) and subgingival accesses (0.84mm vs. 0.37mm, 0.38mm, 0.61mm and 0.54mm, respectively) with statistical significance (p<0.001). Moreover, compared to the GUM Deep Clean Sonic toothbrush with similar tapered bristles, the accessibility was comparable; however, the test toothbrush has a smaller filament diameter, resulting in softer bristles. The test toothbrush also exhibited the lowest bristle stiffness, indicating the softest of all tested toothbrushes.
Conclusions: Compared to the other tested sensitive toothbrushes, the GUM Sensitive Clean Sonic toothbrush has the softest bristles and the highest reach accessibility in interproximal and subgingival spaces.
Methods: An automated brushing system with a tooth model simulating anterior and posterior tooth shapes was used. Prior to brushing, the model teeth were wrapped with a multi-layer strip coated with artificial plaque. Teeth were brushed with 30 50-millimeter horizontal stroke cycles, 90-degree angle and 250-gram force. After brushing, removal of the coating was evaluated. Interproximal and subgingival accesses were measured as the maximum width of the removed coating and the maximum length of the removed coating below the gingival margin, respectively. Both interproximal and subgingival accesses were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s test at 95% confidence level. The stiffness of the toothbrush bristles was assessed using a tensile/compression testing machine.
Results: The new sonic toothbrush was tested and compared to four soft or extra soft bristle toothbrushes: Sensodyne Sensitive manual, Oral-B Sensi-Soft Ultra Soft manual, Colgate360 Enamel Health Sensitive manual and Sonicare 3-Series with the Gum Health head. The results showed the test toothbrush has higher efficacy in interproximal (13.8mm vs. 8.68mm, 7.32mm, 9.15mm and 8.38mm, respectively) and subgingival accesses (0.84mm vs. 0.37mm, 0.38mm, 0.61mm and 0.54mm, respectively) with statistical significance (p<0.001). Moreover, compared to the GUM Deep Clean Sonic toothbrush with similar tapered bristles, the accessibility was comparable; however, the test toothbrush has a smaller filament diameter, resulting in softer bristles. The test toothbrush also exhibited the lowest bristle stiffness, indicating the softest of all tested toothbrushes.
Conclusions: Compared to the other tested sensitive toothbrushes, the GUM Sensitive Clean Sonic toothbrush has the softest bristles and the highest reach accessibility in interproximal and subgingival spaces.