Effect of a new toothbrush designed for a specific therapeutic toothpaste on plaque removal and the clinical parameters of periodontitis

• Published in: Nihon Shishubyo Gakkai Kaishi (Journal of the Japanese Society of Periodontology) Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 171 - 181
• Main Authors: Shirakawa, Satoshi, Yuko, Ujiie, Ohgi, Ayuko, Yoshimine, Masaya, Ogura, Kiichiro, Suzuki, Johichiro, Kamoi, Hisahiro, Gomi, Kazuhiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: JAPANESE SOCIETY OF PERIODONTOLOGY 03.07.2014
• Subjects: Acess; the rate of microbial reduction; trial toothbrush
• ISSN: 0385-0110; 1880-408X
• DOI: 10.2329/perio.56.171

Acess is a toothpaste and medical product for periodontal disease, that has sodium bicarbonate as its base component. Because of the high hardness level of sodium bicarbonate, it has been a problem in holding the Acess out from the surface of toothbrush holding Acess on the surface of a toothbrush has been a problem. For this reason, we developed trial toothbrushes, with U-shaped bristles in an attempt to improve the holding ability of the brushes for Acess. The purpose of this study was to investigate, by a questionnaire survey, the microbial plaque removal efficacy of the brushes using Acess and the level of comfort with their use. In this study, Toothbrush A, toothbrush B and manufactured toothbrush C were used. All the toothbrushes were used with Acess for one week. Then, we asked the patients to no brushing their teeth one day before the coming to our dental clinic. At the clinic, we evaluated the clinical parameters and the amount of microbial plaques attached to the teeth. Then, the patients brushed their teeth for five minutes at the clinic and we repeated quantity of microbial plaques. Finally, we calculated the removal rate of the microbial plaques. There were no differences in the removal rate of microbial plaques among the three toothbrushes examined in this study. On the other hand, more favorable improvement of the clinical parameters were observed for toothbrushes A and B, whereas, the clinical parameters remained at the baseline for toothbrush C. The results of the questionnaire survey showed that Acess was easier to hold on the bristles of toothbrushes A and B as compared to that on the bristles of toothbrush C. Furthermore Acess did not fall out of the bristles. Consequently, with our trial toothbrushes A and B, the rate of microbial plaque reduction was almost equal to that with toothbrush C. However, we found that Acess was held satisfactorily on the U-shaped bristles of toothbrush, improving the efficiency of maintenance of hygiene of the oral environment. Thereby, we conclude that application of Acess improved the clinical parameters examined in this study. Nihon Shishubyo Gakkai Kaishi (J Jpn Soc Periodontol) 56(2)：171-181, 2014.