G. Agaoglu et al., Nickel and chromium levels in the saliva and serum of patients with fixed orthodontic appliances, ANGL ORTHOD, 71(5), 2001, pp. 375-379
The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentrations of nickel and chro
mium ions in salivary and serum samples from patients treated with fixed or
thodontic appliances. A second aim of this study was to determine any signi
ficant changes in these concentrations during any period of the treatment t
ime. Saliva and blood samples were collected from 100 patients ranging in a
ge from 12 to 33 years. Twenty samples from each group were obtained. The g
roups were as follows: In the first group, saliva and blood samples were co
llected before insertion of the fixed appliances. In the second, third, fou
rth, and fifth groups, samples were collected at 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, a
nd 2 years after appliance insertion. The serum was prepared by centrifugin
g the blood sam les at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes. The fixed appliances consis
ted of an average of 4 bands and 20 bonded brackets. No palatal or lingual
appliances welded to bands or extraoral auxiliary appliances were used. The
spectrophotometric determinations were carried out using electrothermal at
omic absorption spectrophotometry. The results indicated certain difference
s in the amounts of nickel and chromium released from fixed orthodontic app
liances during different periods of treatment. The Mann-Whitney U-test from
the SPSS statistics program was used to analyze the significance of the di
fferences between no-appliance samples and those obtained with the applianc
es present. In the serum, there were statistically significant increases in
ion concentration in the second-year groups. In saliva samples, nickel and
chromium reached their highest levels in the first month and decreased to
their initial level in the rest of the groups. It can be concluded that fix
ed orthodontic appliances release measurable amount of nickel and chromium
when placed in the mouth, but this increase doesn't reach toxic levels for
nickel and chromium in the saliva and serum.