A Colorimetric Interdental Probe as a Standard Method to Evaluate Interdental Efficiency of Interdental Brush

摘要

The aim of this study is to evaluate the concordance between the empirical choice of interdental brushes of differentdiameters compared to the gold standard, the IAP CURAPROX? calibrating colorimetric probe. It is carried outwith the aim of facilitating the consensus development of best practices. All the subjects’ interproximal spaces wereevaluated using the reference technique (colorimetric probe), then after a time lapse of 1.2 ± 0.2 hours, using the empiricalclinical technique (brushes) by the same examiner. Each examiner explored 3 subjects. The order the patients were examinedwith the colorimetric interdental probe (CIP) was random. 446 sites were selected in the study out of 468 potentialsites. The correspondence of scores between interdental bushes vs. colorimetric probe is 43.0% [95%-CI: 38.5-47.6]. In33.41% of the 446 sites, the brush is inferior to the probe; in 23.54% of cases, the brush is superior to the probe. Amongthe discrepancies there is thus a tendency for the subjects to use brushes with smaller diameter than that recommended bythe colorimetric probe. This review has found very high-quality evidence that colorimetric probes plus interdental brushingis more beneficial than interdental brushing alone for increase the concordance between the empirical choice of interdentalbrushes of different diameters compared to the gold standard. Uncertainties remain and further research is requiredto provide detailed data on user satisfaction.