Evaluación de la eficacia de dos prescripciones de cepillos dentales en la remoción de placa bacteriana en pacientes ortodóncicos

orthodontic fixed appliances include elements that allow the accumulation of bacterial plaque, making tooth brushing more difficult and increasing the risk of developing caries, white spot lesions, and periodontal disease. several toothbrushes designs have been developed to facilitate oral hygiene in orthodontic patients; however, it has been observed that most patients do not take enough time to brush using adequately both commonly prescribed toothbrushes (oral-b end-tufted？ and oral-b orthodontic？ brushes). oral b cross action pro-health？ has been presented as an alternative, easier to use and to transport. to assess the effectiveness of cross action pro-health？ versus commonly prescribed toothbrushes, two randomly assigned groups of 23 orthodontic patients each, were evaluated. one group of patients used commonly prescribed toothbrushes and the second group used cross action pro-health？. o`leary, modified gingival and bracket plaque index were measured before and 45 days after the daily use of the two mentioned toothbrushes prescriptions. t-test was used to detect statistically significant differences among the brushes for each index. the results demonstrated a significant reduction of the three indexes with the daily use of cross action pro-health？ and no differences were found versus commonly used prescription. orthodontic patients may benefit from the use of a single brush prescription (cross action pro-health？), because effective plaque removal can be achieved easier and faster.