Effect of a novel integrated power toothbrush and toothpaste oral hygiene system on gingivitis.

The purpose of this article is to compare the gingivitis reduction efficacy relative to baseline of an integrated power toothbrush/toothpaste dispensing system prototype, the IntelliClean System from Sonicare and Crest. This was a randomized, controlled, parallel-group, examiner-blind study that examined the gingivitis reduction efficacy of a novel integrated system compared to a positive control consisting of manual toothbrushing coupled with daily flossing over a 4-week period. Mean change from baseline for gingival index (GI) and bleeding scores were tested using paired t tests for each treatment group, separately. Between-group comparisons were made with respect to change from baseline using analysis of covariance. Baseline values were used as the covariate. All tests were 2-sided with a 0.05 level of significance. A total of 66 subjects (61 women and 5 men) completed the study. The subjects ranged in age from 20 to 64 years with an overall mean age of 39.4 years. Baseline GI and bleeding scores were not statistically significantly different (P > .2) between the experimental integrated system group and the positive-control group. Both treatment regimen groups demonstrated highly statistically significant reductions in GI and bleeding scores vs baseline (P < .0001) at weeks 2 and 4. After 4 weeks, there was a 28% mean reduction in GI for the experimental group and a 23% mean reduction for the positive-control group. Similarly, there was a 28% mean reduction in bleeding for the experimental integrated system group and a 23% reduction for the positive-control group. However, no statistically significant treatment difference was found between the 2 groups (P > .5) for either measure at week 2 or week 4. This study demonstrated the efficacy of the IntelliClean System from Sonicare and Crest in significantly reducing gingivitis and bleeding relative to baseline after 4 weeks of use according to the manufacturer's instructions.