Laboratory evaluation of the Reach Tooth & Gum Care Toothbrush and three additional manual toothbrushes for subgingival access

A new laboratory procedure has been developed to evaluate subgingival acces s efficacy (SAE) of toothbrush bristles using clinical toothbrushing motion s and pressure-sensitive paper placed around simulated tooth shapes and gin gival tissues under wet brushing conditions. Subgingival access is determin ed by measuring the maximum distance of the bristle marks from the brushing stroke on the pressure-sensitive paper under the simulated gingival tissue s. Four manual toothbrushes (Reach(R) Tooth & Gum Can, Colgate Total Design (TM), Mentadent(TM) and Oral-B(R) Advantage) with differing designs, bristl e feathering or outside row dimensions were evaluated. Each toothbrush desi gn was evaluated for 28 assessments on anterior and posterior tooth shapes. On overall assessments for subgingival access, the Reach Tooth & Gum Care toothbrush was significantly (p < 0.05-0.001) superior to the other three c ommercially available toothbrushes tested.