Effect of Persulfates on the Prevalence of Bacteria on Removable Retainers

Overview

Alexis Rich Dupont Manual High School The purpose of the project was to determine if persulfates had an impact on the prevalence of bacteria found on removable retainers. Persulfates are a known allergen, and it is important for oral hygiene to know if persulfates have any effect on this prevalence. It was hypothesized that if the presence of persulfates increases, then the prevalence of bacteria will decrease. Three sets of retainers were placed into a solution of artificial saliva. The control set of retainers was not cleaned, the persulfate set was cleaned by Retainer Brite, and the persulfate-free set was cleaned by DentaSOAK. Samples were collected by swabbing each surface of the retainers: the top interior, top exterior, bottom interior, and bottom exterior. These samples were plated. The plates were then placed in an incubator, and after eight days had passed, the plates were taken out and the available data measured. Mold had grown in most of the plates, with an abundance of bacteria growing in the control plates. However, the t-test values were lower than the required values for the specified degrees of freedom, and thus the data was not statistically significant enough to support the research hypothesis. The null hypothesis was accepted, and the research hypothesis was rejected. It was concluded that there would be no statistical impact of having persulfates as an ingredient of commercial retainer cleansers with the intention to help reduce the number of bacteria found on removable retainers after cleaning.

Competition history

• JSHS 2020 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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