Solid-head power toothbrushes may be the best choice, according to a recent study.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Dentistry determined that hollow-head toothbrushes retained significantly more bacteria when compared to solid-head power toothbrushes. Nine out of the 10 comparisons showed that the microbial counts were lower in the solid-head group when compared to the hollow-head toothbrush group.
The information appears in the Journal of Dental Hygiene.
The study was conducted during a three-week period in which participants brushed two times each day with a power toothbrush randomly assigned. There were three total toothbrushes to choose from. The participants used non-antimicrobial toothpaste and continued their flossing routine during the study. They didn’t, however, use any other dental products.
The brush heads were exposed to five categories of oral microorganisms, including (1) anaerobes and facultative microorganisms, (2) yeast and mold, (3) oral streptococci and oral enterococci anaerobes, (4) Porphyromonas gingivalis and (5) Fusobacterium species.
At the moment, there is no documented study that definitively states that bacterial growth on toothbrushes leads to systematic health effects. Numerous microorganisms, however, have been linked to systemic diseases.
