Dental plaque as a biofilm and new research on biofilm removal by power toothbrushes.

Dental researchers have only recently begun to regard dental plaque as a biofilm. Dental plaque biofilm is a complex, heterogeneous structure of bacteria cells, a sticky extracellular matrix, and fluid channels. The biofilm must be modeled accurately for laboratory studies to be meaningful. To that end, researchers have compared the sonicare toothbrush to the Braun Oral-B 3D Excel Plaque Remover for the removal of interproximal dental plaque biofilm in an in vitro model. This article defines the concept of biofilms in the oral cavity and reviews how biofilm modeling is showing differences in toothbrush performance.