Author(s)

Nadja Bjurshammar¹, Sebastian Malmqvist¹, Gunnar Johannsen¹, Elisabeth Boström¹, Jonas Fyrestam², Conny Östman³, Annsofi Johannsen¹

¹Department of Dental Medicine, Division of Oral Diseases, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
²Department of Chemistry-BMC, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
³Department of Environmental Science & Analytical Chemistry, Division of Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Phototherapy with blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) is gaining interest because of the efficient antimicrobial benefits reported in several studies in the last decade. The aim in this study was to investigate if a toothbrush with incorporated blue light used in daily oral care can reduce dental plaque and gingival inflammation. An 8-week single-blinded randomized controlled clinical study including 48 subjects compared effects of toothbrushes with/without 450 nm blue LED light emission, on clinical parameters (plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing), and on inflammatory markers in saliva and gingival crevicular fluid. Significant reductions in dental plaque and gingival inflammation (p < 0.001), and in some inflammatory markers (p ≤ 0.05), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-8, tissue inhibitor metalloproteinase inhibitor (TIMP)-1, interleukin (IL)-1β and interleukin (IL)-8, were detected within both groups from baseline to follow-up. For all subjects dental plaque was reduced with 57%, and a reduction in gingival inflammation was demonstrated by a decrease in gingival index (GI) with 46% and in bleeding on probing (BOP) with a decrease of 15%. No significant differences were found between the groups at a level of p = 0.05. However, the amount of plaque was reduced by 62% in the blue light group and 51% in the control group, a difference established at a level of p = 0.058. A toothbrush with a 450 nm LED did not show any statistical significant adjunctive effect of toothbrushing regarding reduction in measurements of dental plaque and gingival inflammation.

Phototherapy, Antimicrobial Blue Light, Dental Plaque, Gingival Inflammation, Toothbrushing

Bjurshammar, N. , Malmqvist, S. , Johannsen, G. , Boström, E. , Fyrestam, J. , Östman, C. and Johannsen, A. (2018) Effects of Adjunctive Daily Blue Light Toothbrushing on Dental Plaque and Gingival Inflammation—A Randomized Controlled Study. Open Journal of Stomatology, 8, 287-303. doi: 10.4236/ojst.2018.810027.