Abstract
The influence of particle size and tooth brush stiffness on abrasion of dentine was determined by means of a brushing machine, using 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000 strokes and 200 g tooth brush load. Tooth pastes with two particle sizes were used: 7 and 15 μm diameter for the CaCO3 and 8 and 13 μm for Al(OH)3 abrasive systems. Abrasion was measured by a surface profilometer system and expressed in mean depth. The results show that (1) abrasion was always linearly correlated to the number of strokes; (2) nearly independent of the tooth paste system the abrasion is roughly 1.4 × more severe for the medium than for the soft brush; (3) the abrasion rates (average thickness removed per stroke) prooved to be significantly (p < 0.05) different for all four tooth paste systems, and (4) larger particles lead to higher abrasion rates for both abrasive systems.