Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxicity of four different commercially marketed intermaxillary orthodontic elastics using cell culture.
Methods: Four brands of orthodontic elastics were evaluated: American Orthodontics (Group1), TP Orthodontics (Group 2), Morelli (Group 3) and Uniden (Group 4). The elastics were previously sterilized using ultraviolet light and then placed on Petri dishes containing tissue cultures of HEp-2 cells at concentration of 105 for 24h. Five Petri dishes were used for each group, and a total of 15 elastics were tested per group (n=15). The cell monolayers were stained for evaluation of the diffusion halo and cell lysis according to the Response
Index by Stanford.
Results: There was absence of cytotoxicity for American Orthodontic and TP Orthodontic elastics, but high cytotoxicity produced by Morelli and Uniden elastics.
Conclusion: Based on the methods used, the results suggest that Morelli and Uniden orthodontic elastics have high cytotoxicity.
Key words: Cytotoxicity; orthodontic elastics; cell culture