A prospective clinical trial to compare the performance of four initial orthodontic archwires / 대한치과교정학회지

The aim of this study was to compare the clinical performance of 4 types of orthodontic wires, indicated for initial tooth alignment: stainless steel, multistranded steel, superelastic and thermoactivated nickel-titanium. A prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted on a sample of 45 patients, at the Dental School of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Fixed appliances were fitted and study casts were obtained from each patient. Randomly, the wires were allocated as follows: 26 dental arches for superelastic NiTi wires, 22 for stainless steel, 22 for multistranded and 20 for thermoactivated archwires. After 8 weeks, the archwires were removed and impressions for study casts were taken again. Using a 3D digitization technique of defined anatomical points on the study cast crowns, a Dental Irregularity Index (DII) was created for each study cast. The difference between DII before and after the archwire insertion expressed the aligning effect of the wires. ANOVA tests were employed to evaluate the anatomical point approximation (positive DII) and separation (negative DII), for each area of the dental arches: upper and lower whole arch and anterior arch. Results showed no significant difference between the different archwires.

Mechanical properties of nickel titanium and steel alloys under stress- strain test / 대한치과교정학회지

The great variety of commercial brands of orthodontic wires available on the market, stimulated by the so called superior wires (nickel titanium with shape memory effect and superelastic nickel titanium), makes the professional choice for a suitable and less expensive material difficult. The in vitro study of the mechanical properties of the orthodontic wires acts as an auxiliary tool for the professional. In this paper, a comparative study of mechanical properties was made, using stress strain tests for 4 types of orthodontic wires (conventional stainless steel, multistranded steel, superelastic nickel titanium and thermoactivated nickel titanium) separated into 5 groups. A series of 6 tests were tested for each group of wires. Initially, each group was tested 3 times until the wires broke. Furthermore, 3 more tests for each group were performed, stretching the wires under standardized activation loads, for a reliable comparison of their mechanical properties, during loading and unloading. t tests were applied to check differences among the groups. In vitro, the results suggest that regarding the mechanical properties supposedly desirable for physiological teeth movement, such as resilience, elasticity modulus, strength liberated during unloading, and the way that strength is liberated, thermoactivated nickel titanium wires, acting under mouth temperature, seems to be a good choice, followed by superelastic nickel titanium, multistranded stainless steel, and conventional stainless steel. Superelasticity was demonstrated for superelastic nickel titanium wires. When at 37degrees C, thermoactivated nickel titanium wires showed shape memory effect, showing that temperature is important for enhancing the mechanical properties.