Media type: E-Article Title: Toothbrushing causes elemental release from dental casting alloys over extended intervals Contributor: Wataha, John C.; Lockwood, Petra E.; Mettenburg, Donald; Bouillaguet, Serge imprint: Wiley, 2003 Published in: Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials Language: English DOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.10557 ISSN: 1552-4973; 1552-4981 Keywords: Biomedical Engineering ; Biomaterials Origination: Footnote: Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The release of elements from dental alloys has been linked to alloy biocompatibility. Much of the research measuring elemental release has been done <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> under passive conditions. The current study supplements a previous report that measured elemental release from dental alloys during and after the equivalent of 1 week of toothbrushing. In the current study, toothbrushing times were extended to the equivalent of 2 years, and elemental release was measured during and after brushing, with and without toothpaste. The results showed that for the major classes of dental alloys, brushing alone caused no significant elemental release during the brushing, and only minor increases after brushing. Brushing with toothpaste caused significant increases in elemental release for all elements of all alloys, but the largest increases were for the two nickel‐based alloys. Nickel released during brushing with toothpaste reached 600–800 μg/cm<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> of alloy surface. Both beryllium‐containing and non‐beryllium‐containing nickel‐based alloys behaved similarly, refuting claims that non‐beryllium alloys are superior in this regard. Thus, brushing with toothpaste under these extended <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> conditions appears to increase the biological liabilities from elemental release for all alloys, but primarily for nickel‐based alloys. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 65B: 180–185, 2003</jats:p>