Philips Sonicare FlexCare - Sonicare.com - Sonicare

Figure 1—Cross-section of the new ProResults brush head illustrating
the novel radial trim. The crossing of the 2 perpendicular
hairlines indicates the center of brush head motion
Figure 2—The lateral–oblique view reveals the 3-dimensional surface
contour of the bristle tips
Even before launching Elite, the Philips Oral
Healthcare management team decided that it should
not take another 10 years until the introduction of
the third Sonicare generation. A project team composed
of designers, engineers, clinicians, and marketing
specialists was created to develop the new
Sonicare platform. Their objective was to develop a
high-end product to meet the needs of a greater variety
of users, reflecting the now-global outreach of
the company. The updated toothbrush design was to
be smaller, more effective in plaque removal, and
incorporate other improvements. The patented core
technology, 1 including high bristle tip amplitude at
high frequency, remains the backbone of this new
toothbrush generation. The objectives of this article
are to review the unique features of this new sonic
power toothbrush, the Sonicare FlexCare, and introduce
the clinical and laboratory studies that provide
evidence of its improved design and efficacy over
previous models.
ProResults Brush Head
The ProResults brush head has a number of
changes compared with the original Sonicare Elite
brush head. Most obvious, it no longer includes
components of the motor, which are now housed in
the handle. This makes ProResults easier to clean,
lighter, and smaller than previous Sonicare brush
heads. The design also permitted increasing the
length of the shaft. Now its useful length exceeds
Oral-B’s FlossAction brush head by one-half inch. As
a result, it is far easier to clean hard-to-reach posterior
tooth surfaces. A clinical study conducted by
Schaeken and colleagues 7 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands,
compared the plaque removal efficacy of the
FlexCare and Oral-B Triumph b power toothbrushes.
The results of the randomized clinical trial showed
b
Proctor & Gamble Co; Cincinnati, OH.
greater reduction in plaque scores for the FlexCare. 7
Radial Tufting and Trimming
While the bristling has retained the principal
characteristics of the Sonicare Elite brush head, such
as its double-scallop pattern that fits the natural outline
of the dentition and the unique combination of
soft, extra-soft, and ultra-soft end-rounded filaments,
the ProResults brush head has been improved
to deliver the best overall performance for the typical
sweeping brush head motion.
This was achieved through radial tufting and
trimming to enhance the position and contour of the
bristle field. Radial tufting was created by rotating
the outer tufts laterally by 5 degrees on each side
(Figure 1). As a consequence, the brush profile is
now defined with respect to the center of the brush
head motion.
Radial trimming was achieved by adding a third
dimension to the trim profile where Elite was essentially
2 dimensional. Because of radial trimming and
tufting, any accessible tooth surface is cleaned by
more bristles than with a flat, trimmed bristle surface
(Figure 2). In addition to trimming and tufting,
details of brush design, varying trim lengths, and filament
selection were examined using numerous
sequences of computer-assisted computations, as
well as laboratory and clinical studies, to determine
the best radial design.
Clinically, the advantage of the radial configuration
is reducing the user’s sensitivity to the orientation
of the brush head in the mouth. This delivers
more consistent cleaning performance with less
reliance on the brushing technique. The outside
rows of bristles, which are angled slightly lateral, further
widen the available contact area. Also, in this
new arrangement, the bristles are able to move more
freely along the surface of the tooth.
Vol. 28, No. 9 (Suppl 1) Compendium / September 2007
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