title: A thirty-day evaluation of the Rowenta Dentiphant powered toothbrush in children for safety and efficacy.
abstract: A thirty-day clinical trial was undertaken with second grade school children to assess the safety and efficacy of a new battery-powered toothbrush (Rowenta Dentiphant) compared to the manual Oral-B 20 toothbrush. The children from four class rooms were individually and randomly assigned to use either product for the thirty days. The children reported to school having not brushed the morning of each assessment at baseline, 15 days and 30 days. Following the gingivitis assessment and given a pre-brushing plaque assessment, the children were instructed on the use of the toothbrush as they then brushed their teeth for a timed 1 minute out of sight of the examiners. The children were then reassessed for plaque removal. The results demonstrated that the children using the Rowenta powered toothbrush became used to the brush and improved their cleaning efficiency during the study. By week two, the buccal plaque scores for the Rowenta brush were significantly lower (p < 0.05) compared to the Oral-B 20 group. By week four the Rowenta subjects had significantly lower buccal and lingual plaque scores after brushing, while the Oral-B 20 subjects had significantly lower buccal scores after toothbrushing, but no significant difference was found after brushing on lingual surfaces for plaque removal. On total plaque area scores, the Rowenta group was significantly lower (p < 0.01) than the Oral-B 20 group at both two and four weeks. The Rowenta group had a 10% reduction in plaque area after brushing comparing baseline to four weeks. The Oral-B group demonstrated no percentage difference in after brushing plaque scores from baseline to four weeks. On gingivitis, the Rowenta group had significantly lower buccal and lingual mean scores compared to the Oral-B 20 group at week two, and lingual mean scores compared to the Oral-B 20 group at week four. The Rowenta group demonstrated a 27% decrease in lingual gingivitis scores compared to baseline, while the Oral-B group had an 11% decrease in lingual gingivitis scores from baseline to four weeks. Total gingivitis scores for the Rowenta group were significantly lower (p < 0.01-0.001) at both weeks two and four compared to the Oral-B 20 group, with percentage declines from baseline to four weeks being 22% and 12%, respectively. The Rowenta Dentiphant toothbrush was found to be safe to use. On total plaque and gingivitis reduction, the Rowenta Dentiphant toothbrush was found to be significantly superior to the Oral-B 20 manual toothbrush by two weeks of use and this continued to the conclusion of the study.
authors.affiliation: School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Yankell
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Emling
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D004560:Electricity; D004869:Equipment Safety; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010512:Periodontal Index; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000295:instrumentation*