A PRACTICE-BASED RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF THE EFFICACY OF AN ELECTRIC AND A MANUAL TOOTHBRUSH ON GINGIVAL HEALTH IN PATIENTS WITH FIXED ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCES

Objectives. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of an electric toothbrush with a specially designed orthodontic brush head compared with a manual toothbrush in controlling plaque and gingi vitis in patients with fixed orthodontic appliances over an 8-week per iod in a dental practice setting, Methods. This was a randomised contr olled, single blind, stratified, parallel group trial conducted in two specialist orthodontic dental practices by a specialist orthodontist. Group 1 comprised 41 subjects who used the electric toothbrush and Gr oup 2 consisted of 43 subjects who brushed with a manual toothbrush ar ound the orthodontic appliance for a timed 2 minutes twice daily for 8 weeks. Plaque around the fixed appliance attachments was measured usi ng an orthodontic modification to the Silness and Loe plaque index, wh ile gingival condition was scored using the gingival index and Eastman interdental bleeding index. Results. There was baseline balance for a ll clinical variables (p > 0.05). Both groups had significantly less p laque after 8 weeks than at baseline (p < 0.001) but the group using t he electric brush also had significantly less interdental gingival ble eding, as determined by the Eastman interdental bleeding index both at week 4 (p < 0.001) and week 8 (p = 0.004). The majority of subjects ( n = 54, 64.3%) preferred the electric toothbrush. Conclusions. In conc lusion, the results from this study would suggest that use of an elect ric toothbrush with an orthodontic brush head may be of benefit in pro moting gingival health in fixed orthodontic appliance patients; howeve r, the long-term effects (over at least 6 months) need to be evaluated . (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.