A comparative study of the Philips HP 735, Braun Oral B D7 and the Oral B 35 Advantage toothbrushes

The aim of this 3-group, 3-treatment, single-blind, parallel group study wa s to evaluate and compare the efficacies of the Philips/Jordan HP 735 power ed toothbrush, the Braun/Oral B D7 powered toothbrush and the Oral B Advant age B35 manual toothbrush in a cohort of 75 young adults (18-25 years). Fol lowing an appointment for screening, full mouth mean (+/-sd) modified Tures ky plaque index (PI) and Loe & Silness gingival index (GI) were recorded at baseline. After 24 h abstinence from all oral hygiene measures, PI was rec orded and each subject was given one of the test brushes with detailed inst ructions for use, The subject then brushed under supervision for 90 s, duri ng which time mean (+/-sd) toothbrushing forces (TBF) were recorded. PI wer e recorded immediately after supervised brushing and the subjects were then discharged for 6 weeks to use the allocated toothbrush at home. After 6 we eks, PI, GI and TBF were again recorded. Comparisons between the brushing g roups for all parameters, at baseline, 24 h and 6 weeks were tested using A NCOVA. There were no significant differences for PI and GI between groups a t baseline, or for PI following supervised brushing at 24 h. After 6 weeks subjects using the powered brushes had lower mean PI; (+/-sd) scores than t hose using manual brushes but the differences were significant only at inte rproximal sites; HP 735 1.44 (0.52), D7 1.44 (0.53), B35 1.75 (0.51) (p = 0 .05). At 6 weeks, mean (+/-sd) GZ were; HP 735 1.49 (0.21), D7 1.61 (0.21), B35 1.64 (0.22) (p = 0.033). Mean GI scores for the HP 735 group were simi lar at baseline and at 6 weeks although for the other brushes, the GI score s actually increased over this period. Mean (+/-sd) TBF (grammes/force) at baseline and 6 weeks respectively for the brushes were; HP 735 233 (205), D 7 159 (58), B35 279 (122)(p = 0.026): HP 735 194 (86), D7 141 (57), B35 297 (113) (p = 0.0001). The within-group variability for the HP 735 TBF reduce d considerably over 6 weeks, a likely consequence of the click-force thresh old feature of this brush.