The effectiveness of a newly designed toothbrush on dental plaque removal in children

Abstract Tooth brushing is accepted as an most effective measure to removal of supragingival plaque. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a newly designed toothbrush both in brushing-simulator in vitro and in children. The newly designed toothbrush had an oval head with 8 tufts in 3 rows and cleaned the tooth surfaces of primary molar on the plastic model of the dentition more effectively in a brushing-simulator than the control toothbrush with 17 tufts in 3 rows. A total of 66 children participated the study to examine the effectiveness of the brush. The newly designed brush could remove the plaque more effectively from the primary tooth surfaces, especially upper buccal and lower lingual surfaces, than the control brush did. These results indicate that the newly designed toothbrush can remove supragingival plaque effectively in children.