Efficacy of Toothbrushes with and Without Dental Floss: A Comparative Study

Tooth brushing is considered as ‘gold standard’ in prevention and control of periodontal diseases. Removal of dental plaque by brushing is achieved primarily through the direct contact between the filaments and surfaces of teeth. Many devices, namely powered toothbrush, water pick, dental floss are developed in order to improve the oral hygiene. Many studies claim that powered toothbrush is superior to the manual toothbrush but some studies showed reverse of it. Considering this, a study of 3 months duration was carried out to compare the efficiency of powered and manual toothbrush with and without dental floss in terms of reduction in plaque and sulcular bleeding indices (n=80). The subjects were divided into four groups, comprising of 20 in each: Group I = powered toothbrush, Group II = manual toothbrush, Group III = manual toothbrush with dental floss, Group IV = powered toothbrush with dental floss. Plaque and modified sulcular bleeding indices were considered as clinical parameters and recorded at baseline (day 0) and day 30, 60 and 90 using UNC-15 periodontal probe. The observation showed both the powered and manual toothbrushes reduce plaque and bleeding on probing significantly and efficiency is enhanced with the use of dental floss.