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

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of magnetically treated water (MW) as a mouthrinse on the elastic deformation (width (W), inner (ID), and outer diameter(OD)) of the orthodontic elastomeric module and compare its effect to synthetic Ortho Kin (OK) mouthrinse.Material and methods: One hundred twenty translucent modules divided into three groups (40 modules each) based on mouthrinse used: group1: washed with artificial saliva (AS)(control), group 2: washed with Ortho Kin mouthrinse (OK), Group 3 washed with prepared MW. 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 for 2 weeks. The samples were incubated at 37◦C. One hundred ml of distilled water was magnetized using 2430 Gausses (Gs) 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 image J software (Image J; U. S. National Institutes of Health). Measurement was done to the nearest thousandth of a millimeter accuracy. 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. P ≤ 0.05.Results: MW caused significantly higher elastic deformation (W, ID, and OD) especially at one and two weeks, while OK caused a non-significant difference only at one day for W value and at one week and two weeks for ID values. Conclusion: MW caused greater elastic deformation, especially in W and OD values of orthodontic elastomeric modules than OK from one day to the end of two weeks.