A Critical Appraisal of the Use and Properties of Nickel-Titanium Dental Alloys

Nickel-titanium (NiTi) archwires are used in dentistry for orthodontic treatment. NiTi alloys have favourable mechanical characteristics, such as superelasticity and shape memory, and are also known as a corrosion-resistant alloy. In specific cases, an archwire could be attacked by certain types of corrosion or wear degradation, which can cause the leaching of metal ions and a hypersensitive response due to increased concentrations of Ni in the human body. A systematic search of the literature retrieved 102 relevant studies. The review paper focuses on three main fields: (i) electrochemical properties of NiTi wires and the effect of different environments on the properties of NiTi wires (fluoride and low pH); (ii) tribocorrosion, a combination of chemical and mechanical wear of the material, and (iii) the biocompatibility of NiTi alloy and its subsequent effect on the human body. The review showed that corrosion properties are affected by microstructure, pH of saliva and the presence of fluorides. A high variation in published results should be, therefore, interpreted with care. The release of nickel ions was assessed using the same unit, showing that the vast majority of metal ions were released in the first few days of exposure, then a stable, steady state was reached. In tribocorrosion studies, the increased concentrations of Ni ions were reported.