The effect of static and dynamic testing on orthodontic latex and non-latex elastics

PLEASE NOTE: This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community: please click Download and log in with a valid BU account to access. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.Thesis (MSD)--Boston University, Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2007 (Orthodontics).Includes bibliographical references: leaves 89-92.The purpose of this study was to test the force decay properties of different kinds of orthodontic elastics after subjecting them to static and cyclic testing. Latex and non-1atex elastics obtained from GAC, American Orthodontics and Ortho Organizers were used in a sample size of 10 elastics per group. Static testing involved stretching the elastics three times the internal diameter while cyclic testing, the elastics were stretched up to 50 mm to simulate maximum mouth opening. Elastics on average lose 10% and 12% as a result of static test and 30% and 35 % as result of cyclic test for latex and non-latex brands respectively. There are no significant differences between different groups of latex elastics in terms of force loss or even between the different groups of the non-latex elastics. Forces generated by the elastics are different than the manufacturers’ labeled forces. The different values between the different types and brands of elastic and its significance depend on the orthodontist perception and based on each individual case