Surface roughness and droplet contact angle measurement of various orthodontic bonding cements

Surface characteristics that are considered important for bacterial attachment to thirteen orthodontic bonding composite cements and one glass ionomer cement were examined in vitro before and after toothbrush abrasion. The surface roughness and contact angle measurements were found to be statistically significantly different between the materials, both before and after brushing, and there were also statistically significant changes within materials after brushing. There were low correlation coefficients between surface roughness and contact angle for both pre-and post-brushed materials.