# Do Oral Antiseptics Affect the Force Degradation of Elastomeric Chains?
## 3 Results  
The baseline to 30 days force decay of EOC in different oral antiseptic in centiNewton (cN) is shown in Figure 4, while the effect of thermocycling on force decay in three sets of 500 thermoc cycles simulating 10, 20, and 30 days of use can be found in Figure 5. The initial EOC force values ranged from 420 to 600 cN. The highest was measured in 3M, with a median of 600 cN (580-600) and the lowest was measured in Forestadent, with a median of 440 cN (430-460). Both differed statistically from GC, Ormco, and RMO, which delivered an initial force of 500 cN. After three phases of thermocycling and immersion of  
Figure 3: Study protocol. F0—initial force measurement, F1—force measurement after 500 thermocyles, F2—force measurement after 1000 thermocyles, F3—force measurement after 1500 thermocyles. oral antiseptic, the lowest measured force was in Forestadent EOC immersed in Listering with a median of 70 cN (70-75 cN) and Vitis orthodontic with a median of 70 cN (70-80 cN). On the other hand, the least prone to force reduction was the control group of Ormco 280 cN (275-285 cN) and RMO 280 cN (270-280 cN). Table 2 presents descriptive statistics (median, upper, and lower quartiles) and an intergroup comparison of the cumulative percentage of EOC force decay in different oral antiseptic (OA). In all experimental groups, Forestadent showed a statistically significant higher percentage of force decay than Ormco and RMO, while in Octenident, 3M presented a higher drop rate over RMO (\(p\) = 0.049). On the other hand, all EOC groups submerged  
Figure 4: Baseline to 30 days force decay of EOC in different oral antiseptic in centiNewton (cN). Note: small case indicates statistically intergroup (brand) heterogeneous data. Figure 5: Effect of thermocycling on force decay in three points of 500 thermocycles simulating 10, 20, and 30 days of use. * indicates statistically intergroup (brand) heterogeneous data. in different oral antiseptics did not significantly differ from the control group (EOC in distilled water), with the exception of Forestandent EOC in Listerine with a drop rate of 84% (83-85%) in comparison to the control group, 75% (73-77%). When comparing the percentage of force decay during the experimental period, statistically significant differences were found between the 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd cycles in all AO and EOC groups. This could be credited to the 1 st cycle or the 10 days use drop rate because it ranged from 20% to 76%, while the 2 nd cycle ranged from 0% to 24.14%, and the 3 rd ranged from 0% to 19.23%. So, a comparison of the 2 nd and 3 rd cycles was needed. Forestadent and GC did not show a significant difference in drop rates after the 2 nd and 3 rd cycles, while Ormco (\(p<0.001\)), RMO (\(p=0.0278\)), and 3M (0.0098) did. Ormco's drop rate was higher after the 2 nd cycle (median 8%, lower q. 8 and upper 10.8%) than after the 3 rd cycle (4%, 0.96-4.08%). RMO showed a higher drop rate after the 3 rd cycle (7.92%, 4-8.08%) than after the 2 nd one (4%, 4-6.98%). 3M presented a higher drop rate in the 2 nd cycle (6.89%, 6.67-17.24%) than in 3 rd (3.44%, 2.5-6.67%), with an exception in the control group where the 2 nd cycle, 3.36% (3.33-5.14%), had a lower drop rate than the 3 rd cycle, 6.87% (2.5-11.84%). The force decay ratio in three phases simulating 10 days of use, with a cumulative of 30 days, can be found in Figure 6. After the first cycle, in the GC group, Vitis orthodontics showed a higher force decay percentage than PerioPlus+ (\(p=0.0018\)); in the Ormco group, Vitis presented a higher force drop rate than Octenident (\(p=0.0497\)) and in the 3M group PerioPlus+ than Octenident (\(p=0.023\)). After the second cycle, in the Forestadent group, PerioPlus+ had statistically higher values of drop ratio than Octenident (\(p=0.002\)), while in the GC group, PerioPlus+ showed greater drop rate values than the control (\(p=0.004\)). Octenident presented higher values than the control in both the Ormco (\(p=0.023\)) and 3M (\(p=0.01\)) groups. After the third cycle, no statistically