title: A clinical evaluation of a novel toothbrush design.
abstract: A new toothbrush design, the Snakebrush, was clinically evaluated along with the Flexible and Precision brushes. In this parallel, random-allocation investigation, the plaque removing qualities of the 3 brushes were evaluated over a period of 30 days. 60 patients of good dental health between the ages of 20 and 30 years formed the basis of the clinical trial. Mean plaque area scores were evaluated and recorded after a 1-min brush at baseline, day 15 and day 30. Gingivitis indices and bleeding on probing indices were also recorded at the same time intervals. Both uni- and multivariate analyses of our data suggested that the Snakebrush removed significantly more plaque than the 2 controls. For both lingual and buccal surfaces, subjects who had used the Snakebrush showed a significant decline in bleeding on probing and qinqivitis indices.
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, Wilwatersrand University, South Africa.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kieser
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Groeneveld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D004867:Equipment Design; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005884:Gingival Hemorrhage / Q000628:therapy; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D013499:Surface Properties; D014070:Tooth / Q000473:pathology; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000295:instrumentation*