Resumo

CAVALCANTE, Larissa Maria; SALGADO, Vinicius Esteves; REGO, Guilherme Ferreira  e  SCHNEIDER, Luis Felipe Jochims. Abrasion assessment of soft bristle toothbrushes. RFO UPF [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.2, pp. 142-146. ISSN 1413-4012.

There is a wide variety of toothbrushes available in the market with various clinical indications. However, there are few studies in literature that assess the abrasion of toothbrushes of different brands on composite resin restorations. Objective: the present study assessed the abrasion of three brands of soft bristles toothbrushes: Oral B Indicator Plus™, Colgate Extra Clean™, and Dr. Veit Soft™ on a restorative composite material. Materials and method: discs of composite material (8 mm x 2 mm) Tetric Ceram™ were produced and light cured with an LED unit for 40 seconds each. A total of 18 samples were made and divided in three experimental groups (n = 6). Superficial roughness (Ra) and mass in grams (g) of each sample were assessed. Then, the samples and toothbrushes were placed in a toothbrushing simulating machine (ODEME™, Luzerna, SC - Brazil). The groups were submitted to cycles simulating the continuous use of toothbrushes for 3 months. A paste containing the proportion in mass 1:2 of distilled water and dental paste was prepared for each sample. After abrasion, roughness and mass were measured again. The ends of the bristles were observed with a stereomicroscope at 45x magnitude. The results were submitted to ANOVA test with repeated measures over time (5%). Results: there was no statistical difference in mass for any group before and after toothbrush abrasion (p = 0.727). However, Oral B Indicator Plus and Colgate Extra Clean toothbrushes produced rougher surfaces (p = 0.002) than Dr. Veit Soft after abrasion. Conclusion: the results showed that there are variations in the potential for abrasion of toothbrushes commercially classified as soft bristles from different manufacturers.

Palavras-chave : Abrasion.; Toothbrushing.; Composite resin.; Roughness..