Efficacy of a new interdental cleaning aid

BACKGROUND: It is now well established that removal of bacterial plaque can reduce the severity of chronic inflammatory periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is seen to progress faster interdentally and plaque control in these areas is of great importance. Various types of interdental cleaning aids have been developed in recent years. This study was aimed at evaluating the efficacy of a newly developed interdental cleaning aid, BrushPick, in a split mouth randomized clinical trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a split mouth design study where the quadrant on one side of the oral cavity served as the control while another quadrant on the opposite side served as the test sample. Fifty-seven patients with mild-to-moderate periodontitis, presenting with open interdental embrasures, were selected for the study. After non-surgical periodontal therapy, they were asked to use the BrushPick in the embrasures on one side of the arch in a spilt mouth design study and the embrasures on the other side acted as controls. The Rustogi et al. modified Navy plaque index (RMNPI) and interdental bleeding index (IBI) were recorded at baseline, seven days, 14 days, and 28 days. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The mean differences between test and control sites were compared using the studentt test. The mean difference was compared between different durations using analysis of variance (ANOVA). RESULTS: The mean RMNPI was significantly different between the test and control sites at P<0.001 on both days 14 and 28. At 28 days the mean IBI was 0.08 (SD=0.02) for the experimental sites and 0.28 (SD=0.11) for the control sites. The difference was statistically significant at P<0.001. ANOVA showed that the mean RMNPI scores and mean IBI scores showed a statistically significant difference when compared at different durations at the test sites (P<0.0001). But, at the control sites there was no significant change. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that BrushPick reduces plaque and gingival bleeding in open interdental embrasures. Further large sampled clinical trials and comparative studies using gold standard interdental cleaning aids are required to establish the efficacy of this device.