ongitudinal evaluation of the dental enamel surface after the removal of orthodontic brackets. Effects of surface treatments and analysis times

This split-mouth clinical study evaluated the behavior of two surface polishing technics in the regularization of the enamel surface, which was rough and irregular after orthodontic brackets debonding. The factors under study were: Surface polishing at two levels: technique 1 (aluminum oxide disks) and technique 2 (enamel microabrasive product); and the time of analysis at five levels: T0 (after surface polishing), T1 (immediately after surface polishing), T2 (after final polishing), T3 (seven days after surface polishing) and T4 (six months after surface polishing). The response variables were: surface roughness, lightness, morphology, texture and sensitivity. Thirty volunteers were part of this clinical research. The data represented by scores were analyzed considering multinomial distribution; the numerical ones were analyzed as measures repeated in time, at a significance level of 5%. In the analysis of surface roughness and lightness, there was no statistical difference between the polishing techniques at all times analyzed. Within each time, significant equality was observed only in the baseline, while in the other times superficial irregularities were statistically superior for technique 1. No patient presented dental sensitivity. Both techniques were efficient; however, the higher surface smoothness was observed on the dental enamel surface polished with the technique 2.