Effect of some carbonated drinks on force decay of elastomeric chains: An in vitro study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of some carbonated drinks on the force decay properties of commercially available elastomeric chains. 200 short elastomeric chains of two types, conventional and memory chains, were evaluated under the same conditions (150-200 gm at 25 mm). The samples were divided in five groups (40 chains for each group). The control group represented by artificial saliva and four test groups represented by orange based drinks, lemon based drinks, diet pepsi and regular pepsi. The Force was measured at five different time intervals: At initial, 24 hours and 7, 14 and 21 days by a digital force gauge. The result showed that there were significant differences among groups. Statistically significant effects of time on force decay were seen in all groups. Statistically significant difference was found between conventional and memory chains.