Mechanical and Physical Properties of Various Types of Dental Floss

摘要

To compare maximum load, percentage of elongation, physical characteristics of 4 types of dental floss: (1) Thai Silk Floss (silk, waxed), (2) Oral B~R Essential Floss (nylon, waxed), (3) Experimental Floss X_u (nylon, unwaxed), (4) Experimental Floss X_w (nylon, waxed). Four types of floss were tested (n=30) with a Universal Testing Machine (Instron~R). Each sample (30 cm long, 5 cm segment) was fixed, and pulled apart with load cell of 100 N and a test speed of 100 mm/min. Physical characteristics were investigated by digital microscope under 2.5×10 magnification, and scanning electron microscope under 1×100 and 5×100 magnification. The size of the filaments was measured in micron (urn) and the fineness was measured in Denier. For mechanical properties, the maximum load and the percentage of elongation were presented as mean ± SD. The distribution of the data was calculated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. One-way ANOVA and multiple comparison (Tukey HSD) were used to analyze the differences among the groups with the level of a statistical difference at p < 0.05. The maximum load of Floss X_u, Floss X_w, Oral B and Thai Silk were 47.39, 46.46, 25.38, and 23.70 N, respectively. The percentage of elongation of Oral B, Floss X_w, Floss X_u and Thai Silk were 72.43, 44.62, 31.25, and 16.44%, respectively. All 4 types of dental floss showed statistically differences in both the maximum load and percentage of elongation at p < 0.05, except for maximum load between Floss X_w and Floss X_u that showed no statistically significant difference. Physical characteristics of Thai silk revealed the most disintegrated, the smallest, and the least fine filaments. Floss X_u had the highest maximum load. Oral B had the highest percentage of elongation. Wax coating on Floss X increased the elongation but had no significant effect on the maximum load. The physical characteristics of Thai Silk resulted in the lowest mechanical properties values.