Photo Catalytic Silver Modified Orthodontic Brackets - An Innovative Method for Prevention of White Spot Lesions

BACKGROUND Association between fixed orthodontic therapy and enamel decalcification causing periodontal disease and enamel decalcification is a known problem of orthodontic treatment. The root cause of this is the fact that brackets provide an ideal environment for bacteria to accumulate and multiply. Hence modifying the surface of brackets with some photocatalytic antibacterial substance could help in prevention of this side-effect. The current study was thus planned to evaluate the anti-adherence of bacteria to photocatalytic silver coated brackets for the prevention of white spot lesions. METHODS After obtaining ethical clearance from the institutional ethics committee, 40 metal brackets of upper central incisor were taken. These brackets were divided into group 1 & group 2 each containing twenty brackets. Group 1 (control group) consisted of plain metal brackets while group 2 (experimental group) consisted of silver coated brackets. Both the groups were subjected to laboratory bacterial tests to assess the bacterial adhesion to brackets and then statistical analysis was done to obtain results. RESULTS Silver modified brackets showed around 25 % less adhesion of bacteria as compared with plain brackets. CONCLUSIONS Modifying orthodontic brackets by coating them with photocatalytic silver could prove to be an innovative and effective method in prevention of white spot lesions after fixed orthodontic therapy.