Laboratory Interproximal Access Efficacy of Three Manual Toothbrushes

Objectives: The laboratory Interproximal Access Efficacy (IAE) procedure is predictive of clinical plaque removal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a new toothbrush, with the code name SILKY (GlaxoSmithKline, Germany) and two commercially available toothbrushes, Oral-B CrossAction and Oral-B Indicator (Oral-B Labs, USA) in the IAE assay.

Methods: The toothbrush products were submitted by GlaxoSmithKline, Germany. All toothbrushes were labeled as soft texture. Six toothbrushes were tested four times, for a total of twenty four tests on each toothbrush design. Brushing was performed using a vertical or horizontal brushing motion, tooth shapes simulating anterior and posterior teeth and a brushing weight of 250g for 15 seconds at two strokes per second with a 50-mm stroke. The maximum width (IAE) of artificial plaque removed from a pressure-sensitive substrate was recorded in cm. Data was analyzed using t-tests between the three groups, assuming unequal variances.

Results: In the individual assays and in the overall evaluation, the IAE mean values for the SILKY toothbrush product were significantly higher (p < 0.001) than the IAE means for the Oral-B CrossAction and Oral-B Indicator toothbrushes. In all tests, the Oral-B CrossAction had significantly higher (p< 0.01-0.001) IAE means than the Oral-B Indicator. Overall IAE results combining brushing motions and tooth shapes, are shown below:

IAE, Mean (SD), cm

SILKY Oral-B CrossAction Oral-B Indicator

1.34 (0.12) 0.89 (0.10) 0.82 (0.16)

Conclusion: In all of the IAE assays, the SILKY toothbrush was significantly superior ( p< 0.001) to the Oral-B CrossAction and Oral-B Indicator. The SILKY toothbrush is predicted to be more effective for clinical interproximal plaque removal than the Oral-B products tested.