Objective: This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of two battery-powered toothbrushes with different head designs on removal of dental plaque. Methods: The study employed a two treatment, examiner-blind, randomized, two period cross-over design. A total of 38 subjects, age range from 22 to 51 years, 30 females and 8 males were enrolled. The two treatment groups were Crest® SpinBrushTM and Oral-B® Ultra Plaque Remover™ powered brush. Subjects used each brush once during the course of the study. The subjects swished with disclosing solution prior to a baseline plaque examination (Modified Quigley-Hein Plaque Index). They were then instructed to brush for one minute with their assigned toothbrush and marketed toothpaste under supervision prior to having another plaque examination. Results: Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for a crossover design with baseline plaque score as the covariate was applied to the baseline minus post-brushing differences in average whole-mouth plaque scores in order to assess treatment effects. All comparisons were two-sided at the 0.05 level of significance. Baseline whole-mouth plaque scores averaged 1.89 for the Spinbrush and 1.91 for the Oral-B Ultra Plaque Remover brush. The adjusted mean whole-mouth plaque removal (baseline minus post-brushing) score for Crest SpinBrush was 0.46, while the score for the Ultra Plaque Remover was 0.45. The difference in scores was not statistically significant (p=0.645). For whole-mouth scores, Crest SpinBrush had an adjusted mean 3.6% higher than the Ultra-B Plaque Remover. Conclusions: The Crest SpinBrush had directionally but not statistically significantly greater plaque removal efficacy to the Oral-B Ultra Plaque Remover toothbrush (3.6% more plaque removed, p=0.645).

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