Review explores use of silicone toothbrushes in dentistry

Iveta Ramonaite, Dental Tribune International

Tue. 19 May 2026

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CINCINNATI, US: Equitable global oral health requires preventive tools that are affordable and sustainable, but plastic toothbrushes with nylon bristles may be difficult to replace regularly in low-resource settings and pose environmental concerns. Against this background, a recent scoping review has explored whether silicone toothbrushes and other silicone-based oral hygiene devices could offer a more adaptable and more sustainable alternative. The paper found early evidence of oral health benefits of silicone devices, but it also emphasised that the current evidence base is limited and heterogeneous.

Based on her recent study, Dr Priyanka Gudsoorkar of the University of Cincinnati said that silicone oral hygiene devices could help broaden preventive oral care options, particularly for patients whose needs are not fully met by conventional brushes. (Image: Dr Priyanka Gudsoorkar)

“Oral diseases affect 3.5 billion people globally, and yet the tools we use to prevent them haven’t meaningfully evolved in decades. That’s a gap the healthcare profession can close, but only if we choose to,” senior author Dr Priyanka Gudsoorkar, assistant professor of environmental and public health sciences at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, told Dental Tribune International.

Two of the clinical studies included reported comparable supragingival plaque removal with silicone and nylon toothbrushes in adults and children under controlled study conditions. One study found that the use of a silicone baby finger brush compared with finger brushing alone improved oral hygiene scores among adults who usually used their fingers to clean their teeth. Importantly, the review suggested that the performance of silicone oral hygiene tools depends on design features such as silicone hardness, head length and bristle configuration.

The authors also highlighted potential advantages for gingival health. In several studies, silicone bristles were described as softer and more flexible than nylon, a property that could reduce the risk of gingival trauma and abrasion, especially in patients with suboptimal brushing technique.

According to the review, specific populations may benefit particularly from silicone‑based designs. For example, for young children, silicone tooth and gingival brushes showed plaque removal comparable to nylon bristle brushes when used to clean the occlusal surfaces of partially erupted teeth, and the softness of the silicone bristles may help reduce accidental injuries when motor control is still developing. For older adults and individuals with limited dexterity, in vitro studies of optimised silicone mouth swabs suggest that such devices could offer a gentler and easier‑to‑handle alternative to conventional toothbrushes.

“What this review really does is challenge the profession to think differently. Dentistry has largely defaulted to a single tool for nearly every patient. But when you look closely at whom we are treating, that uniformity does not hold up,” Dr Gudsoorkar stated. She continued: “Silicone-based designs may allow for gentler, more adaptable oral hygiene tools where conventional toothbrushes are not always ideal.”

Silicone toothbrushes and the environment

Beyond clinical performance, the review brought environmental considerations into sharper focus—an area that Dr Gudsoorkar said has received little attention in dentistry. Silicone has high durability, which can extend a toothbrush’s lifespan, and the material offers better recycling and repurposing potential than conventional plastics. The researchers said that further comparative research is therefore needed to determine whether silicone toothbrushes are meaningfully more sustainable than conventional toothbrushes across different product designs, supply chains and disposal contexts.

“Oral diseases affect 3.5 billion people globally, and yet the tools we use to prevent them haven’t meaningfully evolved in decades.”

A life cycle assessment included in the review found that toothbrushes with silicone bristles and polypropylene handles had lower environmental impacts than comparable nylon bristle toothbrushes. The authors noted that combining silicone bristles with leaner handle designs and replaceable heads could further reduce the environmental footprint associated with toothbrush use. This could make silicone brushes an attractive option for sustainability‑minded consumers and health systems, provided that clinical performance and usability are confirmed in stronger studies.

From evidence gaps to oral health innovation

Dr Gudsoorkar said that the next step should be a shift from exploratory evidence to more robust clinical and implementation research. Future studies, she said, should examine not only plaque removal and gingival safety but also user acceptance, affordability, environmental impact and feasibility in low- and middle-income countries.

The review also points to several areas for further investigation. These include whether silicone toothbrushes are less prone to microbial contamination than conventional toothbrushes, whether they can be cleaned or sterilised more easily in everyday use, and whether their performance under wet and dry brushing conditions could make them useful in settings with limited access to clean water. The authors suggest that these questions are particularly relevant for equitable oral care in low- and middle-income countries.

According to Dr Gudsoorkar, the findings are already informing the development of a prototype designed to address some of the usability and sustainability gaps identified in the review. However, she stressed that further testing will be needed before such devices can be recommended more broadly.

She also called on clinicians to think more critically about whether the tools they recommend match the needs of individual patients and urged industry partners, funders and global health organisations to invest in preventive oral health innovation. “Silicone toothbrushes are not a complete solution yet. They are more of a prompt—a reminder that preventive oral health has not received the kind of innovation focus that restorative and surgical dentistry routinely enjoy,” she concluded.

The review, titled “Silicone toothbrushes: A scoping review of an underutilized tool in global oral health”, was published online on 22 April 2026 in PLOS Global Public Health.