Effect of interdental plaque control on patients during periodontal maintenance therapy

Objective To compare dental floss with interdental brushes on the interdental plaque removal capacity among patients with periodontal maintenance.Methods Twenty-seven individuals were selected from those patients receiving periodontal maintenance therapy.The patients were instructed on the use of dental floss and interdental brushes and performed the cleaning until they felt it was satisfactory using one instrument for each quadrant.In this single-blind randomized splitmouth study,subjects cleaned the interdental spaces with dental floss or interdental brushes individually under supervision after having abstained from all oral hygiene for 24 hours.Upon written agreement,the Silness and L(?)e Plaque Index(PLI)in interdental spaces was recorded before and after cleaning.Mean values were calculated and compared by t test.Results There was no statistical difference between two groups at baseline.Both two instruments reduced plaque significantly.The final mean PLI was 0.44±0.27 and 1.01±0.30 for interdental brushes and dental floss used side respectively.The PLI values showed that interdental brushes used were significantly smaller than those floss used(P0.05).Conclusions It may be concluded that,for individuals under periodontal maintenance care,interdental toothbrushes are more effective in interdental supangingival plaque removal than dental floss.