Evaluation of Surface Roughness and Microbial Biofilm Adhesion of Different Orthodontic Arch-wires

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the capability of different orthodontic arch-wires to retain oral biofilm and to correlate the adhesion to surface roughness of the wires. Methods: Four types of orthodontic arch- wires were used for the study, Nickel-titanium (NiTi), Copper nickel-titanium (Cu-NiTi) , Beta Titanium (TMA ) & Beta III Titanium (CNA) new arch wires and 4 weeks after intraoral usage, were examined for Surface roughness (SR) using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Adhesion of Streptococcus mutans (MS), Staphylococcus aureus (SA), and Candida albicans (CA) were performed using colony count method. Statistically, the following tests were done: analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient test, post hoc Tukey test. Results: The four wire types showed significant increases in SR (P˂ 0.05) after 4 weeks of intra-oral usage, TMA wires recorded the highest roughness values while the lowest ones were for NiTi wires. Bacterial adhesion was detected on all wires, ANOVA showed significant differences between the wires concerning MS, SA and CA adhesion. A significant positive correlation (P=.001) was observed between bacterial adhesion and surface roughness after intra-oral exposure. Conclusions: SR of the wires increased after intra-oral use and there was a positive correlation with the biofilm adhesion.