Efficacy of a water flosser compared to an interdental brush on gingival bleeding and gingival abrasion: A 4 week randomized controlled trial

Deborah Mancinelli-Lyle, Fridus Van der Weijden, Dagmar E. Slot*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Aim: To determine the efficacy of a water flosser (WF) compared to an interdental brush (IDB) in reducing gingival inflammation. Additionally, the products were compared on the incidence of gingival abrasion. Methods: Young adults with moderate gingivitis and ≥4 accessible interdental spaces by IDB in each quadrant were selected for this study. Participants were randomly assigned a WF or an IDB as an adjunct to manual toothbrushing. Clinical signs of inflammation were measured in two randomly assigned contralateral quadrants by bleeding on pocket probing (BOPP) or bleeding on marginal probing (BOMP). Gingival Abrasion Score (GAS) was assessed per quadrant. Data was recorded at the baseline, 2 weeks and 4 weeks. Results: Both groups WF (n = 40) and IDB (n = 38) showed a significant reduction (p = 0.000) in BOMP and BOPP from the baseline to 4 weeks for all sites and the interdental sites only. At 4 weeks the WF group compared to the IDB group showed significantly lower BOPP (p = 0.030) and BOMP scores (p = 0.003) for all sites. For the interdental sites WF showed compared to IDB for BOMP significant (p = 0.019) lower values but not for BOPP (p = 0.219). There were no differences between the groups for GAS at any time point. Conclusion: In patients with moderate gingivitis, after 4 weeks use the WF is more effective than the IDB in obtaining marginal gingival health.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)176-185
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Journal of Dental Hygiene
Volume23
Issue number1
Early online date12 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. International Journal of Dental Hygiene published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

  • gingival abrasion
  • gingival bleeding
  • gingivitis
  • interdental brush
  • oral irrigator
  • water flosser

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