A Comparative Evaluation of Frictional Resistance of Conventional, Teflon and Epoxy Coated Stainless Steel Archwires in Metal, Ceramic Brackets – An In vitro Study

Aim and Objectives: To evaluate the frictional resistance of Conventional, Teflon, and Epoxy coated stainless steel archwires in Metal, Ceramic brackets.

Materials and Methods: 0.019” x 0.025” Stainless steel arch wire. (G & HTM) – 30n, 0.019” x 0.025” Teflon coated stainless steel archwire. (D-TechTM) – 30n, 0.019” x 0.025” Epoxy coated stainless steel archwire. (G & HTM) – 30n, 0.22 MBT Stainless steel (Gemini- 3M UnitekTM,) lower incisor brackets – 30n, 0.22 MBT Ceramic (Gemini- 3M UnitekTM), lower incisor brackets – 60n. The wires are cut into 5cm long and are ligated to bracket using 0.010- inch ligature wire. Acrylic block is placed in lower arm of Instron universal testing machine, free end of wire is pulled with upper arm of universal testing machine, at a rate of 10 mm/ min while the wire is placed parallel to long axis of bracket and tooth, and a load of 50 kg was used to measure frictional forces.

Results: Stainless steel bracket combined with Stainless Steel wire showed maximum Friction 2.640N (mean) and minimum was 0.307N (mean) with a SD of ±1.2275 (0.6618). Stainless-steel bracket combined with Epoxy coated SS wire showed maximum Friction of 10.3N and minimum was 5.62N with a SD of ± 7.3513 (1.8975). Stainless steel bracket combined with Teflon coated SS wire maximum Friction noted was 5.59N and minimum was 1.66N with a SD of ± 1.8652 (0.9545). Ceramic brackets combined with Stainless Steel wire showed maximum Friction 10.88N and minimum 4.29N with a SD of ± 6.55529 (1.6081). Ceramic brackets combined with Epoxy coated SS wire showed maximum Friction 14.88N and minimum 5.62 with a SD of ± 9.3305 (2.4077) Ceramic brackets combined with Teflon coated SS wire showed maximum Friction of 6.93N and minimum 4.31N with a SD of ±6.3483 (1.2302)

Conclusions: Stainless steel brackets combined with stainless steel archwires or Teflon coated archwires may be used effectively in sliding mechanics, rather than ceramic brackets and tooth-colored epoxy coated archwires.