Introduction: With the growing need for aesthetic orthodontic treatment, thermoplastic transparent materials in the form of thermoforming foils began appearing for treatment purposes in dentistry. The products fit tightly around the patient's teeth, and can be worn by the patient for twelve or more hours a day, thus providing suitable surfaces for bacterial adhesion. Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation are influenced by various factors, including the physico-chemical properties of the material, such as roughness, hydrophilicity and surface charge. The bacterium identified as the most pathogenic factor in the formation of caries is Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans). Purpose: Purpose of this diploma work is to determine the adhesion of the bacterium S. mutans to EVA, TPU and PETG materials, and to discover how certain physico-chemical properties affect its adhesion. Methods: For this study, 1 cm x 1 cm and 1 cm x 2 cm test pieces were prepared from EVA, TPU and PETG thermoforming foils. All samples were sterilized and a pure culture of S. mutans bacteria was prepared in the microbiological laboratory. S. mutans was adhered to the test specimens, and the degree of adhesion was then observed with a scanning electron microscope. The adhesion test was done three times. We analyzed the physical properties of all surfaces, such as surface roughness, contact angle and surface charge. Roughness was measured twice. In the orthodontic laboratory in Stomatološka klinika in Ljubljana, we made different kinds of appliances from the same materials that we researched. Results: The largest contact angle was measured on EVA (78,98° ± 5,81°), the lowest contact angle was measured on PETG (70,64° ± 5,14°). The most negative charge was measured on PETG (-38,20 mV ± 0,46 mV) and the least negative was measured on the TPU surface (-14,20 mV ± 1,01 mV). The material with the roughest surface is EVA (0,20 μm ± 0,15 μm), followed by TPU (0,14 μm ± 0,04 μm), the smoothest surface was measured on PETG (0,06 μm ± 0,03 µm). The mean percentage for surfage covered in bacteria of EVA material calculated from three adhesion experiments was 0,35 % ± 0,44 %. For TPU material the mean percentage for surfage covered in bacteria of TPU material calculated from three adhesion experiments was 5,47 % ± 0,25 %. For PETG material this percentage was 50,84 % ± 22,65 %. Discussion and conclusion: The results of the study show that the most S. mutans bacteria were adhered on the smoothest material (PETG) and the least on the roughest material (EVA). The material with the most negatively charged surface (PETG) had the highest coverage of S. mutans, the material with the least negatively charged surface (TPU) had the second highest area coverage of S. mutans. The influence of the contact angle on the adhesion of S. mutans is difficult to determine, since the measured contact angles for all three materials are similarly large. The difference in the percentage of the surface (%) covered by bacteria that occurs between the three adhesion experiments could be attributed to the insufficient number of captured SEM images from which the % coverage was determined.
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