Oral-B's power brushes prove superior

Oral-B's strong leadership in the power toothbrush market has been bolstered on the back of a report by The Cochrane Collaboration indicating that oscillating-rotating toothbrush technology provides the optimum oral health result over other power brush mechanisms.

The Cochrane Collaboration reviewed data from 354 published studies on power brushes between 1964 and 2001. In addition, 29 trials involving 2,547 participants also provided data for meta-analysis.

According to the report: "Brushes that worked with a rotation oscillation action removed more plaque and reduced gingivitis more effectively than manual brushes in the short and long-term... No other powered brush designs were consistently superior."

The findings were unveiled at the Forsyth Institute Conference on Evidence-based Dentistry on January 11. The review included toothbrushes from Braun Oral-B, Interplak, Philips Sonicare, Rowenta and Ultrasonex.

The review further indicated that rotation-oscillation toothbrushes that utilise the technology pioneered by Oral-B reduced plaque and gingivitis by between 7% and 17% more than manual toothbrushes. No other form of power toothbrushes, including "sonic", proved to be any better than a manual toothbrush in reducing plaque and gingivitis. The evidence also proved that power toothbrushing is just as safe as manual brushing.

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit organisation whose goal is to help people make well-informed decisions about healthcare by preparing, maintaining and promoting accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions. The Collaboration comprises some 50 topic-based collaborative review groups and 8,000 contributors in more than 70 countries around the world.

Also, in a subtle shift, Oral-B is being positioned as the principal brand of the power toothbrushes, with "Powered by Braun" now as the secondary focus.

The new flagship model, the Oral-B Professional Care 7500 DLX, now has 8,800 oscillations and 40,000 pulsations per minute. Improvements over the still current 3D Excel include a 30 second interval timer, full charge indicator, interspace brush heads and a travel case.