Sound Hygiene: Is an Ultrasonic Toothbrush More Effective at Killing Bacteria?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The goal of this experiment was to find out which toothbrush performs the best by observing bacterial growth rates before and after brushing for multiple age groups. Methods/Materials Working with 3 test subjects, ages (13, 50, and 59) using 9 prepared Petri dishes per experiment each trial included 3 full experiments. Each experiment collected morning samples before eating or brushing and exposed 1 Petri dish per subject. Each subject then brushes with assigned toothbrush and 2 oral collections were taken and 2 Petri dishes per subject are exposed to post-brushing collections. Each experiment was observed and digital photos taken every 24 hours for 3 days. The experiment repeats 2 more times rotating the brush selection between test subjects so each trial collects data on each subject using each brush. 3 full trials were completed. OpenCFU(c) software was used to count colonies and provided data for comparison. 81 sterile cotton swabs and sterile Petri dishes with nutrient agar; 1 closable container to store exposed Petri dishes in darkness; 1 Emmi-Dent# Ultrasonic toothbrush with 3 heads; 1 tube of Emmi-Dent# Nanobubble toothpaste; 1 Sonicare# toothbrush with 3 heads; 1 manual (hand-held) toothbrush ; 1 tube of Colgate toothpaste; High resolution digital camera, computer, and colony counting software; Gloves for hand protection, tape to seal Petri dish and Sharpie to label. Results The Emmi-Dent(R) ultrasonic toothbrush was least effective at killing bacteria while the Sonicare(R) toothbrush, that used vibrations, killed the most bacteria. The Emmi-Dent(R) ultrasonic on average had a 9.17% colony loss, the Sonicare(R) toothbrush on average had a 21.08% colony loss, and the Manual toothbrush on average had a 10.07% colony loss. Conclusions/Discussion The Sonicare(R) toothbrush was the most effective at killing bacteria for each age group. By safely increasing intensity of the Emmi-Dent(R) ultrasonic toothbrush it might be able to destroy more bacteria. Combining the Emmi-Dent(R) ultrasonic toothbrush with vibration would make a more effective toothbrush. It was also noticed that each test subject had a different toothbrush that was most effective for them. The Manual toothbrush worked best for the 50 year old, the Emmi-Dent(R) ultrasonic toothbrush worked best for the 59 year old and the Sonicare(R) toothbrush worked best for the 13 year old.

Competition history

• CSEF 2014 Product Science (Biological) (Junior Division Only) · Entry J2015

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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