Critical Analysis of Electric Toothbrushes: Implications for Oral Care and Recommendations for Specific User Groups

Abstract

Oral diseases have a lot of adverse effects on people’s health. Oral care has become an important part of People’s Daily maintenance of oral health. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationship between the type of electric toothbrush and a specific oral care population. This study will use the method of secondary research to review the relevant literature to answer the research questions. The results show that Oral-B is superior to Philips in both the treatment of gingivitis and plaque, but the Philips toothbrush still cleans better than a manual toothbrush. Secondly, children with disabilities can benefit from electric toothbrushes, because electric toothbrushes provide better plaque removal than manual toothbrushes. However, electric toothbrushes do not give disabled children the same cleaning results as ordinary people. Thirdly, in terms of enamel wear, sonic toothbrushes wear enamel more severely than vibrating toothbrushes. However, in terms of cementum, sonic toothbrush has less damage to cementum. In general, sonic toothbrushes are less harmful than vibrating toothbrushes. Practically speaking, this study suggests that ordinary consumers should choose Oral-B toothbrush more often than Philips toothbrush. Moreover, it is suggested that disabled children use electric toothbrushes to achieve better cleaning effect. However, as ordinary electric toothbrushes cannot make up for the defects of disabled children, it is suggested that relevant health institutions develop electric toothbrushes specially for disabled children. Furthermore, for those with sensitive and fragile teeth, the study recommends that they use a sonic toothbrush instead of vibrating toothbrush.