A COMPARISON OF ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSHES IN THEIR POTENTIAL TO CAUSE GINGIVAL ABRASION OF ORAL SOFT-TISSUES

Purpose: It has previously been established that gingival abrasion ass ociated with the Braun Oral-B Ultra Plaque Remover (D9) is minimal and comparable to that observed with a manual toothbrush. The purpose of this single-use study was to compare gingival abrasion with the D9 and a novel electric toothbrush, the Braun Oral-B 3D Plaque Remover (3D). Materials and Methods: 49 subjects (non-dental students) with at leas t 24 natural teeth and an absence of periodontal probing depths of 5mm or greater were included in this study. Following a familiarization p hase, all subjects received a single prophylaxis and were asked not to brush their teeth for 24 hours prior to their appointment. At this vi sit, the gums were disclosed by Mira-2-Tone solution and all gingival abrasion on the soft tissues was assessed and recorded. Subjects then brushed their teeth in a random split-mouth order with the two electri c toothbrushes, using brush heads of the same design (EB9). The gums w ere then re-disclosed and gingival abrasions were recorded. They were recorded as either small sites of abrasion (less than or equal to 5 mm ) or large sites of abrasion (> 5mm). Results: The mean number of smal l traumas increased from 2.57 at baseline to 4.04 after brushing with the D9 and from 1.98 to 4.14 after brushing with the 3D. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. For both toothbrushes, more small traumas were found in the upper jaw compared with the lower jaw. No increase in number of large traumas was observe d.