Electric or manual?
We see them in the aisles at the supermarket, advertised on TV, and in the dentist’s office. Electric toothbrushes are not cheap: at the basic end they run around $50 and can be up to $500. Do they actually do a better job than regular old cleaning with a manual brush?
The answer is an overwhelming yes. So how much better are they?
The studies on this subject matter peaked in the early 2000s, when electric toothbrushes became all the rage. A report released in 2003, which looked at 354 trials of rotation-oscillation action electric versus manual brushing found ‘‘significant, but modest’’ reduction in plaque and gingivitis.
What exactly does that mean? Authors of studies (such as one from the US Centre For the Advancement of Health) say the difference is about an 11 per cent reduction in plaque for electric over manual brushing. However, this study concluded that the benefits of brushing occur no matter which tool you use, and by no means is toothbrushing effective only with an electric brush.
That is to say, the study author confirmed, ‘‘It is possible to clean one’s teeth perfectly well without an electric brush’’.
As far as gingivitis (gum inflammation) goes, the benefits are ever greater with electric toothbrushes. While they only remove around 11 per cent more plaque than manual brushes, studies have found gingivitis reductions of around 17 per cent more than going at your mouth with a non-powered brush.
It pays to know that electric toothbrushes are not all made the same. Studies have favoured brushes with a rotation-oscillation function to effectively reach all of the teeth with circular, alternating motions.
Cheaper ‘‘ionic’’ electric brushes (those that buzz the teeth with small back-and-forth electric charges) on the other hand, have been found to be no better for plaque removal than manual brushing.
There are also sonic toothbrushes, which hum at your teeth at a range of 24,000-48,000 movements per minute. A few studies have compared sonic toothbrushes to ionic and rotation-oscillation varieties, sonic has often come out on top – specifically concerning inflammation. But, as a 2011 study from The Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology suggested, sonic brushes are only ‘‘insignificantly superior’’ to their counterparts.
The reason electric brushes are more effective is because they take personal brushing technique out of the game. You don’t have to know exactly how to brush; you simply need to target every area of your mouth for the prescribed time (two minutes total) and spit out. This is particularly relevant as many researchers have observed that brushing technique (and the amount of time spent brushing) are more important than the type of brush you’re using.
In saying that, there has been some recent research concerning a new innovation in electric toothbrush technology: ‘‘ultrasonic’’. These brushes function by pulsating several hundred million acoustic pressure waves at your teeth per minute, which specifically break up the cariogenic Streptococcus mutans bacteria, the common type of plaque that lives in the mouth and a large contributor to tooth decay. As the name suggests, it’s the same technology as found in older sonic brushes, only an ‘‘ultra’’ version.
The Philips Sonicare range is the most widely-available ultrasonic toothbrush on the market, and peer-reviewed studies have shown that these products have a 31 per cent plaque reduction ability during week one of use (compared to 4 per cent reduction with manual brushing), and 35 per cent in the second week (eight per cent with a manual brush).
Studies on ultrasonic electric brushes can provide even better results for gingivitis sufferers. Philips’ research has shown its ‘‘Diamondclean’’ products can reduce gum inflammation and bleeding by more than 50 per cent over manual brushing.
It’s very important to note, however, that many toothbrush effectiveness studies – including those that are peer-reviewed for academic journals – are funded by manufacturers of electric toothbrushes themselves.
Researchers have conducted tests to gauge bias in industryfunded studies and haven’t found any, but consumers should be aware of the statistics they’re reading and the motivations behind them.
❚ Lee Suckling has a masters degree specialising in personal health reporting. Do you have a health topic you’d like Lee to investigate? Send us an email to life.style@fairfaxmedia.co.nz with Dear Lee in the subject line.