OBJECTIVE: To assess the color changes that occur in four commercial brands of esthetic orthodontic elastomeric ligatures after exposure to the oral environment. METHODS: The four elastomeric ligatures manufacturers mostly mentioned by orthodontists were investigated: Morelli, Uniden, American Orthodontics (AO) and TP. The sample comprised 25 patients. The elastomeric ligatures were randomly distributed and arranged in the four dental quadrants of each patient, r for 30 days. After this period, two units of each brand were photographed in a standardized manner. Subsequently, color changes were visually evaluated and assigned a score (0, 1, 2 or 3) by a panel of four examiners. The mean scores assigned by the examiners were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey's test (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The mean pigmentation scores assigned to Morelli (1.80 ± 0.78) and Uniden (1.92 ± 0.66) elastomeric ligatures after 30 days in the oral environment were not statistically different. However, these brands were significantly more pigmented after 30 days in the oral environment (p < 0.01) compared to American Orthodontics (0.97 ± 0.6) and TP (0.83 ± 0.79). CONCLUSIONS: Although all four brands exhibited an undesirable pigmentation after 30 days in the oral environment, color change for American Orthodontics and TP Orthodontics ligatures was significantly lower than Morelli and Uniden products.
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