Tooth abrasion by manual and oscillating-rotating power toothbrushes

Objective: To observe the depth of tooth abrasion after 35 months clinical use of an oscillating-rotating-pulsating power toothbrush and the ADA reference manual toothbrush.

Methods: Healthy subjects were assigned to brushing with either the power toothbrush (D17U, Oral-B Laboratories, n=55) or the ADA reference manual toothbrush (n=54) according to a prospective randomised, controlled, single-blind, parallel design. Participants were supplied with a standard fluoride toothpaste and asked to brush their teeth twice daily for 2 minutes. At baseline, after 6, 12, 18 and 35 months, high precision full mouth impressions were taken. Within 24 hours, the im-pressions were poured with super hard white dental plaster. The cervical areas of all teeth were profiled with a 3D-Laserscan Profiler. Differences between baseline and 6-, 12- 18- and 35-months replica, respectively, were quantified by digital subtraction of the 3D-profiles.

Results: The maximum depth of cervical tooth abrasion was 38.5±30.2µm after 6 months, 54.8±39.4µm after 12 months, 71.6±26,5µm after 18 months and 97.8±51,9µm after 35 months for the manual toothbrush (p<0.001, Friedman-test). In the power toothbrush group, the depths of tooth abrasion were 33.1±28.0µm, 51.9±44.4µm, 72.2±47.0µm and 95.0±35.5µm, respectively (p<0.001, Friedman-test). There were no differences between the two groups detectable at either timepoint.

Conclusions: The oscillating-rotating-pulsating power toothbrush did not show a higher risk of tooth abrasion compared to the ADA manual reference toothbrush.

This study was supported by Oral-B Laboratories.