Long term impact of powered toothbrush on oral health

Data sources The Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Data extraction and synthesis Data were taken from SHIP1 to SHIP3 over an 11 year period. Mixed-effects linear regression models were constructed between the exposure (manual versus powered toothbrush) and outcome variables (probing depths [PD], clinical attachment loss [CAL], caries status DMFS and DFS, tooth loss) adjusting for potential baseline covariates. Results Power toothbrush usage was found to be significantly associated with reduced mean PD and CAL progression scores, for example after 11 years the entire sample showed MTB users to have 0.41 mm PD mean progression while PTB users had 0.09 mm mean PD progression. This demonstrates PTB users having 0.32 mm less PD progression. Similar trends were shown for CAL mean scores. Conclusions There are benefits of power toothbrush usage and long term protective effects on oral health in terms of reduced probing depths, clinical attachments and number of teeth lost. © 2020, British Dental Association.