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

Aphinan Phukaoluan,Anak Khantachawana,Niwat Anuwongnukroh,Surachai Dechkunakorn,Phacharaphon Tunthawiroon,Kasama Srirussamee

doi:10.3390/polym13142236

Abstract

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.

Highlights

Orthodontic treatments are clinical procedures carried out by the dentists to relocate or correct the misaligned teeth or jaws, which use orthodontic appliances to induce tissue movement, such as arch wires, brackets, screws, ligature ties, elastic bands, and chains [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
It was reported that the use of mouthwashes could increase the friction of stainless steel and titanium arch wires when sliding through the brackets, which negatively affected the efficacy of orthodontic treatments, and sodium fluoride was reportedly responsible for these changes [7,16,17,18]
It is understood from the Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra that rinsing with three commercial mouthwashes did not alter the molecular structure of polymeric orthodontic ligature ties as there was no significant change in the presence of peaks from the as-received samples

Summary

Introduction

Orthodontic treatments are clinical procedures carried out by the dentists to relocate or correct the misaligned teeth or jaws, which use orthodontic appliances to induce tissue movement, such as arch wires, brackets, screws, ligature ties, elastic bands, and chains [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. It was reported that the use of mouthwashes could increase the friction of stainless steel and titanium arch wires when sliding through the brackets, which negatively affected the efficacy of orthodontic treatments, and sodium fluoride was reportedly responsible for these changes [7,16,17,18]. On the contrary, this was not the case for tensile strength of stainless steel arch wires, as no significant change was found after being exposed to mouthwash [19]. The delivery force of orthodontic elastomeric chains and tensile strength of O-rings used for overdenture attachment were negatively affected by mouthwashes [6,20]

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Conclusion