Effectiveness of Powered Charcoal Toothbrush on Candida albicans Viability: An In Vitro Study

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of powered charcoal toothbrush on Candida albicans biofilm to comprehend if these brushes can be prescribed as denture cleaning brushes for patients suffering from denture stomatitis and other Candida infections of the mouth.Materials and methods: A total of 20 square specimens of conventional heat-cured acrylic resins were fabricated and were divided into 10 specimens per group for testing the viability of the conventional powered toothbrush as control (n = 10) and powered charcoal toothbrush as test group (n = 10) on Candida biofilm.Results: Significant reduction of Candida colony-forming units (CFU) was noticed after using charcoal and conventional toothbrushes.The percentage reduction of the Candida CFU was more with the use of conventional powered toothbrush than charcoal brushes.Conclusion: Conventional toothbrushes had greater efficacy than charcoal toothbrushes over the C. albicans biofilm formed on acrylic denture base resin specimens.Further studies on charcoal toothbrushes are needed to understand its scope and areas for improvements.Clinical significance: The cleansing efficacy of powered toothbrush and the action of charcoal against C. albicans could prove to be highly useful for aged patients with loss of manual dexterity.