RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to compare the force of aesthetic wires and their non-aesthetic equivalents from two commercial brands at different displacement points, during the unloading phase at 36°C. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty samples (n=10) were assessed, which were presented in two groups of aesthetic wires and two groups of non-aesthetic wires from the brands GAC® (Dentsply GAC® International, NY, USA) and Aditek®(Cravinhos, SP, Brazil), with 0.016-inch gauge. The orthodontic wires were maintained at a temperature of 36°C throughout the experiment and they were subjected to the three-point bending test at a speed of 1mm/min. The unloading values were recorded as 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5mm of displacement. The data were subjected to Student's t-test and unequal variance t test, at 5% significance level. RESULTS: During the unloading phase, the mean force was significantly higher for aesthetic wires than non-aesthetic ones, in the deflection of 2.5mm, presenting values means of 2.25N (P=.0213). In deflections of 0.5mm and 1.5mm, the orthodontic archwires did not show significant differences in force between the thermally activated wires with aesthetic coating and their non-aesthetic equivalents (P≥0.05). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that during the unloading phase at a temperature of 36°C, the orthodontic archwires analyzed did not show significant difference in force between thermally activated wires with aesthetic coating and their non-aesthetic equivalents at most displacement points analysed, except for the deflection of 2.5mm, which showed higher values.