Influence of Mouthwash Rinsing on the Mechanical Properties of Polymeric Ligature Ties Used for Dental Applications.

Mouthwashes are used during dental treatments to mitigate the complications caused by poor oral hygiene. However, these solutions also affect the properties of dental appliances, including those used in orthodontics. This point has been investigated in this study focusing on the changes in mechanical properties of polymeric orthodontic ligature ties. Commercial ties from four brands were characterized in terms of their maximum forces and displacement, delivery forces, molecular structures, and microscopic morphology. These properties were compared against the ties, which were rinsed with commercial mouthwashes from three manufacturers. The results showed that mouthwash rinsing significantly reduced the maximum bearable forces of ligature ties by up to 73.1%, whereas the reduction in their maximum displacement was up to 74.5% across all tested brands. Significant changes in microscopic morphology of ligature ties were observed after mouthwash rinsing, but not their molecular structure. Furthermore, mouthwash rinsing also reduced the delivery forces from ligature ties by between 20.9 and 32.9% at their first deformation cycle. It can be concluded from this study that mouthwashes have significant impact on the mechanical properties of polymeric orthodontic ligature ties and could also potentially affect the overall efficacy of orthodontic and other dental treatments.

Comparison of friction forces between stainless orthodontic steel brackets and TiNi wires in wet and dry conditions.

In sliding mechanics, frictional force is an important counter-balancing element to orthodontic tooth movement, which must be controlled in order to allow application of light continuous forces. The purpose of this study was to compare the frictional forces between a stainless steel bracket and five different wire alloys under dry and wet (artificial saliva) conditions. TiNi, TiNiCu, TiNiCo, commercial wires A and commercial wires B with equal dimensions of 0.016×0.022'' were tested in this experiment. The stainless steel bracket was chosen with a slot dimension of 0.022''. Micro-hardness of the wires was measured by the Vickers micro-hardness test. Surface topography of wires was measured by an optical microscope and quantified using surface roughness testing. Static and kinetic friction forces were measured using a custom-designed apparatus, with a 3-mm stretch of wire alloy at a crosshead speed of 1mm/min. The static and dynamic frictions in the wet condition tended to decrease more slowly than those in the dry condition. Therefore, the friction of TiNiCu and commercial wires B would increase. Moreover, these results were associated with scarred surfaces, i.e. the increase in friction would result in a larger bracket microfracture. From the results, it is seen that copper addition resulted in an increase in friction under both wet and dry conditions. However, the friction in the wet condition was less than that in dry condition due to the lubricating effect of artificial saliva.

Improvement of mechanical and biological properties of TiNi alloys by addition of Cu and Co to orthodontic archwires.

The purpose of this study was to investigate improved performances of TiNi in order to promote tooth movement. Special attention was paid to the effect on the clinical properties of TiNi of adding Cu and Co to this alloy. Ti49.4Ni50.6, Ti49Ni46Cu5 and Ti50Ni47Co3 (at %) alloys were prepared. Specimens were cold-rolled at 30% reduction and heat-treated at 400°C for 60min. Then, the test results were compared with two types of commercial archwires. The findings showed that superelasticity properties were confirmed in the manufactured commercial alloys at mouth temperature. The difference of stress plateau in TiNi, TiNiCo and commercial wires B at 25°C changed significantly at various testing temperatures due to the combination of martensite and austenite phases. At certain temperatures the alloys exhibited zero recovery stress at 2% strain and consequently produced zero activation force for moving teeth. The corrosion test showed that the addition of Cu and Co to TiNi alloys generates an increase in corrosion potential (Ecorr) and corrosion current densities (Icorr). Finally, we observed that addition of Cu and Co improved cell viability. We conclude that addition of an appropriate amount of a third alloying element can help enhance the performances of TiNi orthodontic archwires.