Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Current Research in Dental Sciences, cilt.32, sa.1, ss.44-48, 2022 (Scopus)
Objective: The use of manual toothbrushes has a fundamental role in oral health prevention. A toothbrush with rounded end bristles effectively removes plaque and causes less damage to periodontal tissues than without end-rounded filaments. The aim of this study is to examine the bristle end morphology of different toothbrush brands on the market with a stereomicroscope and to evaluate the percentage of acceptable bristle ends. Methods: Two soft and two medium type of toothbrush samples were selected from 5 different leading brands in Turkey. A single bristle bundle in the center of each toothbrush was cut using surgical scissors under a surgical magnifying glass and 1304 bristle ends morphology examined at 40x magnification under a stereomicro-scope. Bristle ends morphologies were considered acceptable and unacceptable according to the Silverstone and Featherstone classification. Chi square (χ2) test statistic was used to compare toothbrushes according to bristle ends morphology. Statistical significance level was set at a level of P <.05. Results: The mean acceptable and non-acceptable percentage for all brands was calculated. A significant difference was found in distribution of bristle ends morphology between toothbrush brands (P =.000). According to this the best percentage of end-rounded filaments came from Sensodyne with 41.3%. Another group of four brands showed from 8.9% to %33 acceptable filaments. There was no significant difference between soft and medium toothbrushes (P =.068). Conclusion: The percentage of acceptable filament morphology belonging to five different toothbrush brands was determined to be less than 50%. These results showed that quality control is necessary for rounding the bristle ends during the production of toothbrushes as well as the correct labeling of end-rounded bristles.