Title

Clear aligner surface roughness and color stability following mouthwash exposure - An in vitro study

Authors

Afshan Saman Waremani^1,*, Kanchan Sharma², Vijaya Priyadarshini³, Ritama Sinha⁴, Pooja Pooja², Clipa Varghese⁵ & P. Aishwarrya⁶

Affiliation

¹Department of Orthodontics, Dayananda Sagar College of Dental Sciences, Bengaluru, India; ²Department of orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics, Awadh Dental College and Hospital, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India; ³Department of orthodontics, Clinical Cancer Trial Researcher, Institute of Cancer Research, London; ⁴Department of Orthodontics, Brace Works Dental Clinic, Kolkata, West Bengal, India; ⁵Department of Orthodontist, Ernakulam, Kerala, India; 6Department of Orthodontics, Dental college Azamgarh, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Afshan Saman Waremani - E-mail: afshan.w01@gmail.com
Kanchan Sharma - E-mail: kanchansharma10022018@gmail.com
Vijaya Priyadarshini -E-mail: vpvijaya@gmail.com
Ritama Sinha - E-mail: ritamasinha@gmail.com
Pooja - E-mail: sairamdashmi.1918@gmail.com
Clipa Varghese - E-mail: aplic17cilpa23@gmail.com
P. Aishwarrya - E-mail: dr.aishusmilehub@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received August 1, 2026; Revised August 31, 2026; Accepted August 31, 2026, Published August 31, 2026

Abstract

Patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with clear aligners frequently use mouthwashes for oral hygiene, yet the chemical agents in these rinses may compromise the surface integrity and esthetics of aligner materials, potentially affecting treatment outcomes. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the effects of different mouthwashes on the surface roughness and color stability of clear aligner materials. Forty thermoplastic aligner samples (PET-G) were divided into four groups: control, chlorhexidine, alcohol-based and herbal mouthwash. All mouthwashes increased surface roughness and caused color changes, with the alcohol-based mouthwash producing the greatest degradation, while herbal mouthwash showed the least adverse effect. Thus, data shows that herbal mouthwash offers a clinically safer alternative for patients wearing polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PET-G) clear aligners, supporting evidence-based recommendations for oral hygiene protocols during aligner therapy.

Keywords

Clear aligners, surface roughness, color stability, mouthwashes, thermoplastic materials

Citation

Waremani et al. Bioinformation 22(8): 4693-4697 (2026)

Edited by

Ritik Kashwani

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.