Tribological response of sterilized and un-sterilized orthodontic wires

It was shown that TMA samples' friction coefficient and hardness are higher than those of NiTi whereas roughness is lower. The overall results highlighted two types of tribological response: abrasive and adhesive behavior. The sterilization process and surface treatment induced no significant modification of the tribological properties of any of the samples. Thus, it is important to encourage dental practitioners to practice autoclaving onto arch wires before clinical application; however, these results did not show clearly the advantage of using surface treated wires (no details available on the treatment process).