IN VITRO COMPARISON OF BIOFILM METABOLIC ACTIVITY ON ALIGNERS FROM FULL-SERVICE AND IN-OFFICE FABRICATED PLATES
Abstract
Objective: To compare the metabolic activity of a multispecies subgingival biofilm formed on clear aligners produced by full-service manufacturers and thermoformed plates used for in-office aligner fabrication, according to material composition and manufacturing workflow. Methods: Ten types of thermoformed aligners were evaluated: four from full-service systems (Invisalign®, ClearCorrect®, NewAligner®, and SouSmile®) and six commonly produced for in-office treatment protocol. The in-office aligners were thermoformed on 3D printed models produced by either stereolithography/liquid crystal display (SLA/LCD) or fused deposition modeling (FDM). Rectangular specimens (5 × 8 × 0.75 mm) were sectioned from the buccal surface of maxillary central incisor region (n = 8 per group) and exposed for 7 days to a complex multispecies subgingival biofilm. Biofilm metabolic activity was quantified using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) reduction and spectrophotometric analysis. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test. The level of significance was 5%. Results: The results showed statistically significant differences between and within groups. However, no statistically significant differences were observed between the 3D model printing methods used for in-office aligner fabrication. Conclusion: The groups with the highest and lowest metabolic activity were both within full-service systems. The fabrication methodology had no significant influence on biofilm metabolic activity, nor did the 3D printing method used for in-office model production.
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