Comparison of debonding time and pain between three different debonding techniques for stainless steel brackets

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to compare the debonding time and pain or discomfort between conventional mechanical debonding with sonic and ultrasonic debonding of stainless steel brackets. One hundred fifty brackets were debonded at the end of 2 years of comprehensive orthodontic treatment from 12 patients of both sexes of age range between 15-25 years using non probability sampling technique. Mechanical debonding of brackets was done with debonding plier using wing method. Ultrasonic and sonic scalers were used to debond the brackets engaging the bracket from incisal side. Debonding time in seconds and patient perception of pain on a scale of 0-4 was noted. One way ANOVA was used to compare these three techniques in terms of time efficiency and pain or discomfort at time of debonding. Mechanical debonding was successful in all the cases while ultrasonic and sonic debonding failed to debond the brackets in 16% and 36% of the cases respectively. Mechanical wing method debonds brackets in 1.28 +/- 0.49 seconds, ultrasonic debonding in 42.53 +/- 20.25 while sonic method debonds brackets in 70.18 +/- 22.28 seconds. More pain was felt by mechanical debonding followed by sonic and ultrasonic debonding respectively. Difference in debonding time and pain were found statistically significant between these three different techniques. It was concluded that that no single method is time efficient and at the same time least painful for the patient. Mechanical debonding was most time efficient while ultrasonic debonding was least painful