A clinical comparison of three aligning archwires in terms of alignment efficiency: A prospective clinical trial

Abstract

Objectives: To clinically evaluate the effectiveness of three orthodontic aligning archwires in relation to tooth alignment speed during the initial alignment stage of treatment.

Materials and methods: A consecutive sample of 74 patients requiring lower only or upper and lower fixed orthodontic appliances were randomly allocated into three different archwires (0.014-inch superelastic nickel-titanium [NiTi], 0.014-inch thermoelastic NiTi, or 0.014-inch conventional NiTi). Good quality impressions were taken of the lower arch before archwire placement (T0) and at designated serial stages of alignment (every 2 weeks: T2, T4, T6, …, T16). The change in tooth alignment was measured in millimeters from the resultant casts using Little's irregularity index. Demographic and clinical differences among the three groups were compared with the chi-square or analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. The difference in the change of lower anterior tooth alignment over time among the three groups was explored with a Split Plot ANOVA (SPANOVA, or within- and between-groups ANOVA). The Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test was used when data were not normally distributed.

Results: The SPANOVA and Wilks Lambda Multivariate test confirmed that the wire type had no influence on the rate of change in alignment (P = .98).

Conclusion: The three forms of NiTi wires were similar in terms of their alignment efficiency during the initial aligning stage of orthodontic fixed appliance therapy.

Keywords: Alignment; Archwires.

Figure 1.

Change of the mean irregularity scores over time.