The Comparative Plaque Removal Efficacy of Charcoal Based and Non Charcoal Based Manual Toothbrushes: A Clinical Study

Background: The studyaimed to compare the plaque removal efficacy of a novel- charcoal-based and a non-charcoal-based manual toothbrush of standardised toothbrush design. Materials And Methods: Sixteen undergraduate students of Sri Ramakrishna Dental College and hospital, Coimbatore, were included in this clinical study. This is a randomised clinical trial with a split-mouth design in which the quadrants that undergo tooth brushing using charcoal-based (test) and non-charcoal-based (control) toothbrushes are randomly selected by tossing a coin. The subjects were asked to refrain from all kinds of oral hygiene practices for 48 hours, following which pre-brushing and post-brushing plaque scores were evaluated by Turesky Gilmore modification of Quigley-Hein plaque index using a two-tone disclosing solution. Tooth brushing was performed by the examiner for a standard time (45sec/quadrant) using the Modified Bass brushing technique with fluoridated toothpaste. Results: The study's results showed no statistical significance between the values. However, the correlation between the total plaque scores and the assigned toothbrushes was also analysed, and a positive correlation was observed between the total plaque score and the test toothbrush. Conclusion: The plaque removal efficacy of charcoal bristled manual toothbrushes with 0.01mm diameter was found to be more or less the same compared with the similar non-charcoal-based counterpoint (1.89,1.39) respectively. Key-words: Charcoal-based toothbrush, Modified Bass brushing technique