A study on bacteriology of Orthodontic separators

In this practical study, various types of orthodontic separators were analyzed in order to indentify microbial population on them. Due to high amount of time and energy needed on this issue, only 12 patients were selected. The results showed that elastic separators and Brass wire separators involved the highest amount of aerobic and non aerobic bacteria respectively. Moreover, this can be related to the shape, material and speed of separators in separating teeth and also their place of installation. This phenomenon is evident in clinical observations that installation place of elastic separators often involves inflammation, pain and acute swelling of gingiva. Also, Brass wire separators cause lower bacterial accumulation and no clinical manifestation of inflammation and swelling. Besides, it should be considered that it has polished surface and slow separating effect. According to the results, we should declare that each separator cannot cause accumulation of a specific type of microbes. But the only difference between various types of separators is the difference i