Assesment of the effect of Orthodontic Removable Appliance Use on Streptococcus Mutans Contamination of Toothbrush

Removable orthodontic appliances may act as reservoir of cariogenic microorganisms and lead to toothbrush recontamination and increase caries risk. This study purposed to asses the effect of orthodontic removable appliance wearing on streptococcus mutans contamination of toothbrush. This study was conducted on 30 children (12 males, 18 females), aged 7-11 years, who were planned to be treated with orthodontic removable appliances. Subjects brushed their teeth and tongue for two minutes twice daily for 14-days before 14 days and after receiving orthodontic appliance with toothbrushes. At the end of each phase, the toothbrushes were collected and cultured for streptococcus mutans and colony forming units per milliliter were determined. Data were analyzed statistically by SPSS 20 using McNemar and Wilcoxon test, with (P <0/05). Of 30 participants, 26 (86.7%) completed the study. There was no significant difference in frequency of contaminated toothbrushes between before (20 cases, 76.9%) and after (19 cases, 73.1%) the appliance wearing (P=1.00). No significant difference between the pre- and post-wearing of the orthodontic appliance was determined with respect to tooth-brush contamination level with streptococcus mutans (P=0.558). The findings of this study revealed that wearing a removable orthodontic appliance was not associated with intensifying of toothbrush contamination with streptococcus mutans.