In Vitro Study of Tensile Strength Comparison of Selected Nonabsorbable and Absorbable Suture Materials after Immersion in 0.12% Chlorhexidine Gluconate

Abstract

Aim: To compare the tensile strength (TS) of absorbable and nonabsorbable suture materials after immersion in 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate. Materials and Methods: Six 4-0-gauge suture materials were used, namely silk (S), polypropylene (PP), polyamide 6 (PA6), polyglactin 910 (PG910), poliglecaprone 25 (PL25), and polydioxanone (PDX). A total of 540 suture materials were divided equally (90) into six groups and tested. These materials were divided into a nonimmersed condition (10) and two thermostatically controlled immersion media (40 each), using artificial saliva for the control group (CG) and 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate for the test group (TG). The specimens were tied to prefabricated rubber rods before immersion and removed at the testing timepoint. By using a universal testing machine (Instron 5566) with hooks attached, a hook-mounted specimen TS testing was performed on days 0, 1, 3, 7, and 14 at a 10 mm/min crosshead speed until the material was stretched to failure, and the maximum TS was recorded in Newtons (N). The continuous variables were taken as the mean and standard deviation across the six study groups to assess the significance at α = 0.05. A two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to assess the TSs over time in different media. A Bonferroni correction was performed when the data were statistically significant according to a two-factor ANOVA. Intragroup statistical comparisons were performed by repeated ANOVA for each study group. All data were analyzed using SPSS 26. Results: The suture material TS analysis showed that nonabsorbable suture materials maintained their TS throughout the study; silk exhibited different behaviors, decreasing in TS from baseline to day 1 and maintaining its TS until day 14. All absorbable suture materials decreased in TSs by day 14. The silk and PG910 samples in the TG performed significantly better than those in the CG. Conclusions: Prescribing 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate as a postsurgical mouth rinse is safest when silk and PG910 are the optimal suture materials.