CHARACTERISATION, COMPARISON OF SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY AND FRICTIONAL RESISTANCE OF ZINC OXIDE- TIN OXIDE NANOCOATED CERAMIC ORTHODONTIC BRACKETS BY RADIO FREQUENCY MAGNETRON SPUTTER COATING METHOD: AN IN VITRO STUDY

Arshya A Kumar,
Ravindra Kumar Jain*

Abstract

Introduction In recent years, orthodontic research has witnessed significant progress as it ventures into the exploration of nanoparticle coatings to augment the surface properties of orthodontic appliances. The present study aimed to evaluate the surface characteristics, surface topography and frictional resistance (FR) of ceramic brackets (CB) nanocoated with zinc oxide-tin oxide (ZnO-SnO2) by the radio frequency magnetron sputter coating method. Materials and methods 26 polycrystalline maxillary canine CB, split into two groups, were used in the current in vitro investigation. Group A of the RF magnetron sputter coating method was used to coat ZnO-SnO2 nanoparticles (Nps) on brackets, while group B of the process used uncoated brackets. Following coating, brackets underwent EDAX and SEM imaging. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to assess the surface topography, and frictional resistance (FR) was also examined. An analysis of the data was conducted using SPSS (Version 23.0). An independent parametric t-test was used to compare the results between the groups. Results Brackets coated by the RF sputter coating method had a porous and aggregated morphology when viewed under SEM. EDAX spectroscopy images showed uncoated brackets presented aluminium, oxygen, silica and calcium signal peaks at 60.83 wt %, 13.43 wt %, 24.57 wt % and 1.17 wt % respectively while the coated brackets showed signal peaks of zinc, oxygen, silica and tin at signal peaks of 20.98 wt %, 54.85 wt %, 10.52 wt % and 13.65 wt %. Group A and B showed a surface roughness (SR) of 180.62 ± 9.49 nm and 316.77 ± 14.10. A statistically significant difference was observed in the SR between the 2 groups (p=0.00). The mean FR were higher for uncoated brackets ( 8.18 ± 0.76) p=0.00. Conclusion Zn-SnO2 Nps were effectively coated onto ceramic brackets through the RF magnetron sputter coating technique. In comparison to uncoated brackets, the coated brackets exhibited a lower FR and SR.