Influence of Different Mouth Rinsing Agents on Friction During Sliding Mechanics Between Orthodontic Metal Brackets and Stainless Steel Archwire: A Comparative In Vitro Study

Aim and objectives The aim of this in-vitro study is to evaluate and compare the effect of various mouth rinsing agents on frictional resistance through sliding mechanics among orthodontic metal brackets and stainless steel (SS) archwire. Materials and methods Each group comprised 15 samples of maxillary first premolar pre-adjusted edgewise SS movable, un-bonded brackets (Koden Inc., United States) which were welded with a power arm, where 100 g of the load was suspended. Brackets were ligated with elastic modules (Koden Inc., United States) onto the perspex sheet along with 0.019" x 0.025” SS archwire (Classic Orthodontics, United States) and were suspended from the upper component of the Instron machine. The coefficient of friction was tested in dry conditions (control), artificial saliva (AS) (Wet Mouth, ICPA Health Product Ltd., India), 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) mouthwash (Hexidine, ICPA Health Product Ltd., India), 0.05% sodium fluoride (NaF) mouthwash (ACT Anti-Cavity Fluoride Mouthwash, Sanofi Company, United States), charcoal (CC) mouthwash (Hello Activated Charcoal Extra Freshening Mouthwash, Hello Products LLC, United States) and ozone-infused oil-pulling solution with coconut oil (O(3)) (O(3) Essentials, Health Ranger Store, United States). In order to calculate the coefficient of friction, 50 L was added to the test sample while moving at a 5 mm/min crosshead speed. The groups were compared using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey's post hoc analysis was performed for multiple pairwise comparisons. Results The coefficient of friction with the highest mean values was observed with the control group (2.01), followed by AS (1.79), and the least with O(3) (1.15). Statistically significant differences were observed with almost all groups of mouth rinsing agents, but NaF is significant with CHG and CC. However, CHG did not have any significant difference from CC. Conclusions Lower coefficient of frictional values were observed with the ozone-infused oil-pulling solution with coconut oil during sliding mechanics between metal brackets and stainless steel archwire. Almost all the mouth rinsing agents showed a significantly different coefficient of friction value.