The objective of the present study is to evaluate the cytotoxicity of four different commercial brands of intermaxillary orthodontic elastics. Four commercial brands of elastics were evaluated: American Orthodontics (Group1), 3M Unitek (Group 2), Morelli (Group 3) and Uniden (Group 4).The elastics were previously sterilized with Ultraviolet light and placed in Petri dish which tissue culture HEp-2. After 24 hr, the monolayers of cells were ruddystained with violet crystal and followed by an evaluation of the diffusion halo and cells lyses. The results demonstrated no cytotoxity for the American Orthodontic and the 3M Unitek elastics, and hight cytotoxicity for Morelli and Uniden elastics. Based on the results found, supported by the methodology utilized, it was concluded that the Morelli and Uniden elastics present high cytotoxicity.
cytotoxicity; elastics; orthodontics
