In an article published recently in The Angle Orthodontist, researchers compared treatment time, outcome, and anchorage loss between self-ligating (SLB) and conventional (CN) brackets.
A retrospective cohort study compared 34 patients (the SLB group) treated by SmartClip brackets from 3M Unitek to 35 patients (CB group) treated by conventional preadjusted Victory series brackets (also 3M Unitek) and ligated by stainless steel wire ligatures. According to the authors, pretreatment and posttreatment lateral cephalograms were traced and analyzed using Pancherz sagittal-occlusion analysis to obtain skeletal and dental changes in the maxilla and the mandible. The dental cast models were assessed by the Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) Index for the treatment outcomes.
The researchers found that the mean treatment time for SLBs (19.19 months) did not show a statistically significant difference from 21.25 months for CBs; the treatment time and pretreatment PAR scores were strongly correlated. There was no difference in anchorage loss between the SLB and CB groups. There were significant dental and skeletal changes among adolescent orthodontic patients regardless of the bracket used. The lingual inclination of the mandibular incisors in the CB group was 3.62° more than in the SLB group (P < .01).
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