RESUMO
AIM: The aim of this study was carry out a literature review on the self-ligating brackets (SLB), identifying publications which evaluated the treatment time with these systems comparing them to the conventional brackets (CB). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The following indexing bases were researched: Medline (Medicine online International Literature on Health Sciences), LILACS (Latin-American and Caribbean Literature on Health Science), IBECS (Spanish Bibliographic on Health Sciences), SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) and Cochrane Library, available on the virtual librarian web site on Health of the Medicine Regional Library BIREME (www.bireme.br). The following describers were researched: orthodontic brackets and self-ligating brackets and its correspondents in Spanish and English languages. In this study were covered the scientific researches published in the last ten years, available on their complete form. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the treatment time seems not showing clinical significant differences when compared the SLB and CB systems, and that researches as control case studies and randomized clinical trials, with rigorous methodology, should be developed to accurate investigation of concepts and results which involve the matter.