Filament Anchoring Techniques of Toothbrushes and Bacterial Retention

Recent studies have shown that although the different designs applied to the filament arrangement of the bristles of the toothbrushes show an improvement in plaque removal, it may also increase bacterial retention and growth. In fact, this event may create more damage instead of benefit in our regular oral hygiene because it may become a possible source for oral recontamination. The new designs of toothbrushes may harbor more microorganisms due to the fact that drying, as well as rinsing requires more time in order to efficiently reduce bacterial adherence. We hypothesized that filaments that are placed into bundles would have a higher chance to harbor microorganisms since they would require more rinsing/drying time than other types of toothbrushes.