Objective: Floating action toothbrush bristles have been incorporated into a V-shaped sonic toothbrush. The base of the bristles moves down or up according to the pressure of the toothbrush being applied to a tooth surface. It was thought that this floating action with sonic vibration may generate new motion for increased plaque removal efficacy through increased contact between bristles and tooth surfaces. The objective of this investigation was to compare the plaque removal efficacy of a sonic toothbrush with floating bristle action (Float-Brush) to either a conventional V-shaped sonic toothbrush (Techno-Brush) or a manual toothbrush.
Materials and methods: A single-blind, three-treatment cross-over study was performed on 42 subjects. Each subject refrained from brushing for 24 hours, followed by assessment for dental plaque on the Ramfjord teeth employing the Rustogi Modified Navy Plaque Index. Plaque removal efficacy was determined by the percentage of plaque score reduction in a single-use toothbrushing under supervision for two minutes.
Results: Forty participants completed this study. No significant difference in pre-brushing plaque scores was detected among the three toothbrushes. In the comparison of whole mouth mean scores, plaque removal efficacy of the Float-Brush (65.0%) was significantly higher than that of the Techno-Brush (59.1%, p = 0.0487) and the manual toothbrush (50.9%, p < 0.0001). Superiority of the Float-Brush was similar to whole mouth scores, when comparing the gumline and interproximal tooth area scores.
Conclusion: These findings indicate the superiority of the Float-Brush for plaque removal compared to the Techno-Brush and the manual toothbrush.