Analysis of bristle design of commercially available tooth brushes by using scanning electron microscope.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the bristles of five toothbrushes types and to recommend the best design among them. METHODS: The study was conducted at Hamdard University Dental Hospital, Karachi, from June 2017 to February 2018, and comprised five different types of commercially available manual toothbrushes. Five toothbrushes from each of the selected brands were procured from a supermarket taking care that all brushes from similar brands had the same manufacturing batch number and date of manufacturing. The five types were coded as SN, SHD, CG, OB and PAD. Each of the bristle obtained from the toothbrushes was mounted on a glass slide and secured using cover slip. Scanning Electron Microscope was used to check the morphology of the bristle which was scored with Silverstone and Featherstone scale. SPSS 22 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 356 bristles obtained, there were SN 72(20.2%), SHD 64(18%), CG 76(21%), OB 78(22%) and PAD 66(19%). Morphology of SN was 66(91.66%) and that of CG62(81.57%), followed by SHD51(79.68%), OB 48(61.53%) and PAD 38(57.57%). CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of the study, SN toothbrush showed best bristle-end morphology.