Development and laboratory evaluation of a new toothbrush with a novel brush head design

Despite many developments in manual toothbrush design, plaque removal at th e back of the mouth and at approximal surfaces remains inadequate, yet it i s at these sites in particular that plaque accumulates and leads to the dev elopment of gingival disease. Improved oral hygiene can be achieved by bett er brushing technique and by increasing brushing time, but a change in beha vior patterns is almost impossible to achieve for the majority of individua ls. What is required is a brush head design that maximizes plaque removal, regardless of how the user brushes. As a result of a detailed investigation into the action of bistles during brushing, the Oral-B CrossAction toothbr ush has been developed. It incorporates bristles angled at 16 degrees in a unique CrissCross design arranged along the horizontal axis of the toothbru sh. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that this development significantl y enhances interproximal penetration and cleaning effectiveness when compar ed with an identical brush head with vertical rather than angled bristles. Laboratory comparisons with more than 80 leading manual toothbrushes from a round the world demonstrate a consistent, significant advantage for the new CrossAction toothbrush, both with respect to interproximal penetration and cleaning effectiveness. These results suggest that the CrossAction toothbr ush has the potential to remove greater amounts of plaque, especially from the approximal surfaces, than conventional toothbrushes incorporating verti cal bristles or more traditional tuft designs.