Efficacy of Home Rubber Cup Polisher in Removal of Plaque

Objectives: To determine whether the use of a home tooth polishing system (Dental Concepts) in conjunction with toothbrushing was more effective at reducing plaque accumulation than toothbrushing alone. Methods: Thirty-one subjects participated in the study and were instructed to refrain from toothbrushing upon waking the morning of the study. After using a disclosing solution, the Turesky Plaque Index was used to measure the pre-treatment plaque index value (PREPI). All subjects then brushed their teeth within a two-minute time limit. Manufacturer’s instructions were provided to the subjects describing the use of the tooth polisher and the subjects were randomly assigned the side of the mouth on which to use it. The other side was not polished and served as the control group. The post-treatment plaque index value (POSTPI) was then measured and the difference (DIFF) in POSTPI and PREPI indices was calculated to determine the change in plaque levels. The data were analyzed by two-factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using SAS software (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) to determine the effects of treatment and side of the mouth on change in plaque levels. Results: Mean ± standard deviation values for DIFF are shown below:

	Side of	Mouth
Treatment	Left	Right
Polisher + toothbrushing	-0.56 ± 0.22	-0.57 ± 0.32
Toothbrushing (control)	-0.52 ± 0.25	-0.56 ± 0.21

The results indicate that there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.66) between the treatment group and the control group. The side of the mouth on which the treatment was used was also not statistically significant (p=0.45). Conclusion: The use of a home tooth polishing system combined with toothbrushing resulted in a similar reduction in plaque index scores when compared with toothbrushing alone. This study was supported by the J. Dean Robertson Society, University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry.