Color Preferences of Patients Receiving Elastic Ligatures Selma Elekdag-Turka Nurhat Ozkalaycib Devrim Iscia Tamer Turkc AbstrAct Objectives: To determine the color preferences for elastic ligatures among patients receiving fixed-appliance orthodontic therapy. Methods: Five hundred patients with metal brackets (336 female patients and 164 male patients) were included, and their color preferences for elastic ligatures were recorded using a color scale. Chi-square analysis was performed to evaluate the color preferences and to determine the influence of age and gender on color preferences (P<.05). Results: Two hundred and seventy-six patients (55.2%) preferred strikingly colorful elastic liga- tures, while 224 patients (44.8%) preferred less noticeable elastic ligatures. No significant difference was observed between the color preferences of female and male patients (P>.05). However, sig- nificant differences were observed between the color preferences of adolescents and older patients (P<.001). Conclusions: Female patients preferred red–purple-colored tones, while male patients preferred blue–black-colored tones. Adolescents preferred colorful elastic ligatures, while older patients pre- ferred ligatures with less-noticeable colors. A stock of 10–12 colorful and less-noticeable elastic ligatures seems to be adequate to ensure patient satisfaction. (Eur J Dent 2010;4:171-174) Key words: Color preference; Elastic ligatures; Orthodontic therapy. a Assistant Professor, Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Ondokuz Mayis, Samsun, Turkey. b Research Assistant, Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Ondokuz Mayis, Samsun, Turkey. c Professor, Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Ondokuz Mayis, Samsun, Turkey. Corresponding author: Dr. Selma Elekdag-Turk University of Ondokuz Mayis, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Orthodontics, 55139 Kurupelit/Samsun, Turkey. Phone: +90 544 640 34 24 Fax: +90 362 457 60 32 E-mail: turkset@superonline.com April 2010 - Vol.4 IntroductIon Elastic ligatures are commonly used in fixed- appliance orthodontic treatment.1 Archwire liga- tion performed using elastic ligatures is faster than that performed using wire ligatures. More- over, the availability of elastic ligatures with dif- ferent colors facilitates active patient involvement in the treatment process, which may have a posi- tive influence on patient cooperation during treat- ment. However, no information is available on pa- tients’ color preferences for elastic ligatures. Which colors of elastic ligatures should orthodon- 171 European Journal of Dentistry