Effects of Magnetically Treated Water Mouthrinse on Elastic Deformation of Orthodontic Elastomeric Modules

Abstract

Aims: The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of magnetically treated water as a mouthrinse on the elastic deformation (width, inner, and outer diameter) of the orthodontic elastomeric module and compare its effect to synthetic Ortho Kin mouthrinse. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty translucent modules were divided into three groups (40 modules each) based on the type of mouthrinse used: group1: washed with artificial saliva (control), group 2: washed with Ortho Kin mouthrinse, Group 3: washed with prepared magnetically treated water. Each group was further subdivided into 4 subgroups, 10 modules for each time interval (initially, one day, one week, and two weeks). Washing was done for 1 minute twice daily. The samples were incubated at 37ºC. One hundred mL of distilled water was magnetized using 2430 (Gausses) neodymium magnets. The modules were stretched over hand-made stainless-steel dowels. Photographic images of modules were taken under 3X magnification using a hand-made view box for standardization, and the elastic deformation was detected via ImageJ software (ImageJ; U. S. National Institutes of Health). Measurement was done to the nearest thousandth of a millimeter. Descriptive statistics with mean elastic deformation differences from initial to final measurements for the modules were compared with the Mann-Whitney test. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the mean of elastic deformation changes among the studied mouthrinses at P ≤ 0.05. Results: Magnetically treated water caused significantly higher elastic deformation (width, inner, and outer diameter) of elastomeric modules, especially at one and two weeks, while Ortho Kin caused a non-significant difference only at one day for width value and at one week and two weeks for inner diameter value. The artificial saliva group recorded intermediate values between magnetically treated water and Ortho Kin groups, especially at two weeks.    Conclusion: Magnetically treated water caused greater elastic deformation, especially in width and outer diameter values of orthodontic elastomeric modules, than Ortho Kin from one day to the end of two weeks.