Efficacy of Three Manual Toothbrushes to Reduce Gingivitis

Objectives: The aim of this research was to comparatively evaluate the performance of two manual test brushes vs a control brush in reducing gingivitis during a 4-week test period.
Methods: This was a single-center, examiner-blind, 4-weeks, three-treatment, parallel randomized clinical study conducted in Xian, China. The manual brushes Taj 720 (T720, Criss cross filaments) and Oral B Gum Care Compact (GCC, compact head with flagged filaments) were compared vs Oral-B Indicator Soft 35 (IND, regular straight filaments) as control. 150 adult subjects with evidence of gingival bleeding (> 10 bleeding sites) were randomized to one of the three treatments and instructed to brush their teeth twice daily as they usually do. Mazza Gingival Index (Gingivitis and Bleeding sites) was scored at baseline and after 4 weeks of use. ANCOVA was used to analyze treatment differences using the corresponding baseline values as covariates and pairwise t-test was used to analyze mean change from baseline for each treatment.
Results: After 4 weeks of use, both test brushes significantly reduced gingivitis and bleeding sites (p<0.001). The reduction within the T720 group after 4 weeks was 12.5% for gingivitis and 28.4% for bleeding sites. GCC reduced gingivitis by 9.4% and bleeding sites by 19.3%, respectively. The IND control brush not reduce gingivitis or bleeding sites after 4 weeks of use (p=0.063 and 0.212, respectively). The differences between T720 and GCC vs the control brush were statistically significant for gingivitis (p<0.002) and bleeding sites (p<0.006) in favor of the test brushes.

Conclusions:
Both test toothbrushes were able to improve gum health in 4 weeks and were superior in the reduction of gingivitis and bleeding sites vs a regular manual control brush. All treatments were well tolerated.