Microbial contamination profile on esthetic elastomeric ligatures through the checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization technique : Arandomized split-mouth study.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the microbial contamination of three different brands of esthetic elastomeric ligatures. Different brands of esthetic ligatures (Unistick Pearl [American Orthodontics, Sheboygan, WI, USA], Power Sticks Pearl [Ortho Technology, Tampa, FL, USA], and Ease [Obscure, 3M Unitek, Monrovia, CA, USA]) were randomly assigned to permanent canines of 25patients (aged 11-18years) undergoing corrective orthodontic treatment. After 30days, the ligatures were removed, processed, and the biofilm composition was analyzed by checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization for 40bacterial species. The microbiological data were analyzed using anonparametric mixed model. The ligatures presented intense microbial contamination after 30days, but no statistically significant differences were observed among the three groups (p > 0.05). The levels of the evaluated individual species and proportions of the microbial complexes showed no statistically significant differences among the ligature groups (p > 0.05). Esthetic elastomeric ligatures became multicolonized by several bacterial species after 30days of exposure to the oral cavity. However, no relevant differences were observed among the biofilm composition formed on the different ligature brands.