The effects of in-office reconditioning on the morphology of slots and bases of stainless steel brackets and on the shear/peel bond strength.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the effect of five in-office bracket reconditioning methods on: (i) bracket slot width and interwing gap measurements; (ii) the appearance of the bracket bases under scanning electron microscope (SEM), and; (iii) shear/peel bond strength (SPBS).


METHODS
Ex vivo study.


METHODS
One hundred and twenty-five brackets were initially bonded and were divided into five experimental groups and reconditioning by the following methods: (i) adhesive grinding using green stone (Gp II); (ii) sandblasting (Gp III); (iii) direct flaming (Gp IV); (iv) using the BigJane machine (Gp V), and; (v) application of Buchman method (Gp VI).


RESULTS
Distortion of the brackets. Scanning electron microscopy of three representative specimens from each group. The remaining brackets were rebonded, then shear/peel forces to failure were measured (SPBS).


RESULTS
The ANOVA and multiple comparison test exhibited a statistical, but not clinical, significant increase in the bracket measurements of Group VI. There was a significant reduction (28%) in the SPBS of Group II. Under the SEM, the wire mesh structure was maintained; however, the amount of adhesive remnants greatly varied among the groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Although none of the in-office reconditioning methods employed adversely affected the bracket base and/or the bracket measurements, reconditioning with a green stone was not effective. Sandblasting method and direct flaming are recommended because of simplicity and time-saving advantages.
Basudan
A M
AM
aisha_basudan@yahoo.com
Al-Emran
S E
SE
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001840:Dental Bonding; D017005:Dental Debonding; D003775:Dental Polishing; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis; D017743:Equipment Reuse; D006801:Humans; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D016910:Orthodontic Brackets; D013193:Stainless Steel; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013499:Surface Properties
D013193:Stainless Steel