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. 2019 Jan;89(1):54-63.
doi: 10.2319/021717-118.1. Epub 2018 Aug 3.

Flexural properties of rectangular nickel-titanium orthodontic wires when used as ribbon archwires

Li Lin, G Fräns Currier, Onur Kadioglu, Fernando L Esteban Florez, David M Thompson, Sharukh S Khajotia

Flexural properties of rectangular nickel-titanium orthodontic wires when used as ribbon archwires

Li Lin et al. Angle Orthod. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To compare the flexural properties of rectangular nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) orthodontic wires in occlusoapical and faciolingual orientations using a standardized test method.

Materials and methods: Twenty-two rectangular Ni-Ti wire groups were tested in occlusoapical (ribbon) orientation: eight conventional Ni-Ti products, five superelastic Ni-Ti products, and nine thermal Ni-Ti products (n = 10 per group). Six products of thermal Ni-Ti wire were tested in faciolingual (edgewise) orientation. A three-point bending test was performed to measure deactivation force at 3.0-, 2.0-, 1.0-, and 0.5-mm deflections of each rectangular wire at 37.0 ± 0.5°C. Analysis of variance and post hoc Student-Newman-Keuls tests were used to compare the mean values of the different groups (α = .05).

Results: The ranges of deactivation forces varied greatly with different kinds, sizes, products, and deflections of Ni-Ti wires. One product of conventional and superelastic Ni-Ti wires had steeper force-deflection curves. Four products had similarly shaped flat force-deflection curves, whereas the sixth product had a moderately steep force-deflection curve. Thermal Ni-Ti wires had smaller deactivation forces ranging from 0.773 N (78.8 g) to 2.475 N (252.4 g) between deflections of 1.0 and 0.5 mm, whereas wider ranges of force from 3.371 N (343.7 g) to 9.343 N (952.7 g) were predominantly found among conventional Ni-Ti wires between deflections of 3.0 and 2.0 mm.

Conclusions: Clinicians should critically select archwires for use in the occlusoapical orientation not only based on Ni-Ti wire type, size (0.022 × 0.016-in or 0.025 × 0.017-in), and product but also with deactivation deflections from 0.5 and 1.0 mm to obtain light forces in the occlusoapical orientation.

Keywords: Conventional Ni-Ti; Copper Ni-Ti; Edgewise archwires; Ribbon archwires; Superelastic Ni-Ti; Thermal Ni-Ti.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three-point flexural test apparatus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representative force-deflection plots of three kinds of Ni-Ti archwires in occlusoapical orientation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean deactivation force values of conventional and superelastic Ni-Ti wires at different deflections as ribbon archwires. The error bars indicate plus and minus one standard deviation from the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean deactivation force values of thermal Ni-Ti wires at different deflections.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mean deactivation force values of thermal Ni-Ti wires at 1-mm deflection. The error bars indicate plus and minus one standard deviation from the mean.
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