The effects of varying alcohol concentrations commonly found in mouth rinses on the force decay of elastomeric chain.
OBJECTIVE
To test the effect of alcohol on force decay of elastomeric chains in vitro in order to determine if increasing alcohol concentrations results in an increased amount of elastomeric chain force decay.


METHODS
A prospective laboratory study was completed to test the effect of alcohol exposure on orthodontic elastomeric chain. A total of 450 specimens were divided into five test groups. Two test groups were each exposed to different alcohol concentrations (14% and 26.9%) and the other two test groups were exposed to different commercially available mouth rinses (Cēpacol -14% alcohol and Listerine - 26.9% alcohol) for 60 seconds twice a day. The control group followed all of the same procedures but was only exposed to deionized (DI) water. Force measurements were taken at six time points (initial, 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days).


RESULTS
There were no significant differences among groups at the initial time point (P  =  .52). Statistically significant effects of time on force decay were seen in all groups. All test groups showed significantly more force decay than the control group. Only a few statistically significant differences were observed when comparing force decay among the test groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Alcohol causes an increase in force decay of elastomeric chain over time. A concentration dependence of alcohol on force decay of elastomeric chain was not observed.
Department of Orthodontics and Oral Facial Genetics, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
Terrah M
TM
Larrabee
Sean Shih-Yao
SS
Liu
Ariadna
A
Torres-Gorena
Armando
A
Soto-Rojas
George J
GJ
Eckert
Kelton T
KT
Stewart
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis; D004548:Elasticity; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D009067:Mouthwashes / Q000737:chemistry*; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors
D009067:Mouthwashes; D011140:Polyurethanes; D000431:Ethanol