The safety and efficacy of a children's power toothbrush and a manual toothbrush in 6-11 year-olds.

PURPOSE To evaluate and compare the oral hard and soft tissue safety and the plaque-removing efficacy of a children's power toothbrush (Braun Oral-B Kids' Power Toothbrush-D10) and a manual toothbrush in children from a general population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy children aged 6-11 yrs were enrolled into a single-blind, randomized, parallel-design study. At baseline, oral hard and soft tissues were evaluated and plaque was assessed on buccal and lingual surfaces of all fully erupted permanent and primary teeth using the Turesky Modification of the Quigley-Hein Plaque Index. Eligible subjects were randomized to use either a Braun Oral-B children's power toothbrush (D10) or a manual toothbrush for the duration of the study. Subjects were instructed to brush their teeth at home twice daily for 1 min each day for the 30-day study period. At baseline and after 15 and 30 days, plaque was assessed following 12-18 hrs of no oral hygiene. In addition, at each visit single-use plaque removal was evaluated after subjects had brushed their teeth for 1 min under supervision. Oral hard and soft tissues were assessed for safety before and after the supervised 1-min brushing at each visit. RESULTS There were no pre-brushing oral hard and soft tissue abnormalities or post-brushing changes in oral tissues in either group. There were statistically significant reductions in mean plaque index for the whole mouth (P< 0.006), buccal surfaces (P < 0.0001) and anterior teeth (P< 0.008) from day 0 to day 30 in the D10 group, but not in the manual group. Greater mean changes in whole mouth plaque reduction were seen for the D10 group as compared to the manual group at days 15 and 30 (P< 0.05). Results from the single-use supervised brushing at each visit revealed that reductions in mean whole mouth plaque were statistically significant in both groups at each visit (P< 0.0001). There was statistically significantly greater plaque removal after a single brushing at day 0 in the D10 group compared with the manual group (P< 0.002), but the difference was not significant at days 15 and 30.