comparison of the efficacy of oral b cross action, panberes cross action and panberes classic for bass plaque control technique using o’ leary plaque index

objective: mechanical plaque removal namely tooth brushing is the most commonly used oral hygiene technique. efficacy of tooth brushing is influenced by the design and shape of toothbrush. this study aimed to compare the efficacy of two common iranian toothbrushes with a foreign made one in plaque removal.   methods: this clinical trial was conducted on 30 female dental students in babol university, school of dentistry using simple randomized sampling. oral b cross action(germany), panberes cross action and panberes classic (iran) toothbrushes were compared. students were asked not to brush their teeth for 24 hours before the first visit. at the first visit, subjects received oral prophylactic procedures and the baseline plaque index was recorded before brushing for all subjects using o’ leary plaque index. in order to match the conditions, bass tooth brushing technique was instructed to subjects. students were then randomly divided into 3 groups of 10. the subjects were provided with the three toothbrushes for use in the first, second and third weeks. the plaque index was recorded after using each toothbrush for one week. paired t-test was used to compare the efficacy of toothbrushes in plaque removal in the same subject while anova was applied for the comparison between the three toothbrushes.   results: significant reductions were observed in plaque index after using each toothbrush. plaque index reduction was the highest for oral b cross action and the lowest for panberes classic (p=0.001). oral b cross action had a significant difference with panberes classic in mean plaque index reduction (p=0.018). panberes cross action and oral b cross action were not significantly different in this respect (p=0.797).   conclusion: oral b cross action and panberes cross action were not significantly different in terms of plaque index reduction. however, the mentioned two toothbrushes had a significant difference in this respect with panberes classic.