Surface Wear of Clear Aligner Attachment Composites

Evaluation of Surface Wear of Composites Used for Clear Aligner Attachments

The aim of this study is to investigate the amount of surface wear that may occur during treatment with different composite materials used for clear aligner attachments.

Two different flowable composites (AlignerFlow LC, VOCO GmbH, Cuxhaven, Germany; AlignerConnect, GC, Tokyo, Japan) will be used to bond the attachments in split mouth designs. To determine the composite for the upper right segment, a coin toss will be performed. The remaining quadrants will be bonded with alternate composite resin. After bonding, intraoral scans will be performed from baseline to 6 months for every 2 months. Stl files obtained from the scans will be imported to NemoStudio, to evaluate the volume loss of the attachments.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Receiving Invisalign treatment at the Clinic of the Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Marmara University
• Mild to moderate crowding
• Exhibiting good oral hygiene
• No active dental caries
• Voluntarily agreeing to participate in the study and signing the written informed consent form
• Having no history of any syndrome, systemic disease, or allergy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Being pregnant or lactating
• Presenting with advanced periodontal disease of a severity that could affect orthodontic treatment
• Having prosthetic restorations within the oral cavity
• Presenting with white spot lesions prior to orthodontic treatment