Antimicrobial efficacy of silver, zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide nanoparticles incorporated in orthodontic bonding agent

Background: One of the most important complications of fixed orthodontic treatment is formation of white spots, which are initial carious lesions. Addition of antimicrobial agents into orthodontic adhesive material might be wise solution for prevention of white spots formation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial properties of orthodontic adhesive primer against S. Mutans after adding the three different types of nanoparticles (Ag, ZnO, or TiO2). Materials and methods: Discs were prepared using empty insulin syringe approximately 2 mm×2 mm rounded in shape specimens (40 discs) were divided into four groups (ten discs for each group): The first group was the control (made from primer only), the second group (10 discs made from primer and incorporation of Ag NPs), the third group (10 discs made from primer and incorporation of ZnO NPs), and the fourth group (10 discs made from primer and incorporation of TiO2 NPs). The antibacterial properties of orthodontic bonding agent after incorporation of (Ag, ZnO, or TiO2) nanoparticles were evaluated by disc diffusion test and viable count of mutans streptococci. Results: The results of this study showed that there were high significant differences between the all groups using ANOVA F-test, and the colony forming unit were 99×10³, 39.6×10³, 19.4×10³, 6.6×10³ CFU/mL respectively. Conclusion: The incorporation of these nanoparticles (Ag, ZnO, or TiO2) into Transbond ™ XT adhesive primer helps to enhance the antibacterial properties of primer against the S. mutans.

Relationship Between Orthodontic Force Applied by Monoblock and Salivary Levels of Alkaline Phosphatase and Lactate Dehydrogenase Enzymes

AIM

The current study was aimed to determine the relationship between the orthodontic force applied by monobloc and the salivary level of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes, considering the time factor after insertion of the appliance and whether there is a correlation between these enzymes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A sample of 28 growing patients requiring orthodontic treatment with myofunctional appliance (Monoblock) was taken for the current study with an age range 9 to 12 years,all patients had Angle's class II division 1 mal-occlusion with no or mild crowding, the sample was selected using simple random sampling. Only 16 subjects (10 males and 6 females) were included who follow certain inclusion criteria. Unstimulated saliva was collected from the patients before monoblock insertion, then 1 hour after insertion, followed by 14 days and 28 days. Salivary levels of ALP and LDH were measured using a spectrophotometer and compared with the base line.

RESULTS

The results revealed that ALP and LDH levels increased with increasing time after monoblock insertion, and there was the statistically insignificant difference after 1-hour post-insertion for ALP enzyme level, but highly significant after 14 and 28 days. While for LDH level,there was the statistically significant difference after 1-hour post-insertion, but highly significant difference after 14 and 28 days post-insertion. In this regard to the relation between salivary ALP and LDH enzymes levels at different time intervals, showed that there were no significant correlations between the enzymes using Pearson's correlation test.

CONCLUSION

The ALP and LDH salivary enzymes activity is affected by mechanical forces generated by monobloc activator and these enzymes activities can also be increased during the rapid growth phase of childhood such as late infancy and early puberty where the age of subjects was selected in the current study.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The determination of ALP and LDH salivary enzymes activities during the skeletal maturity is crucial for the success of myofunctional monobloc treatment; therefore, saliva can be used as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for determination of chemical biomarkers for detection of bone remodeling process during myofunctional monoblock treatment Keywords: Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Monoblock, Orthodontic force, Salivary levels.