Evaluation of the Influence of Gingival Display on Smile Esthetics in Indian Females-A Computer-Aided Photographic Analysis

Abstract

bjective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical efficiency of 0.018″/0.022″ slot self-ligating (SL) bracket system (standard and tandem mechanics) in terms of rate of alignment by comparing it with a 0.022″ slot conventional ligating appliance system (MBT). Settings and Sample Population: The Department of Orthodontics. Materials and Methods: The pilot study was carried out using randomized controlled trial design. Forty patients having Little's irregularity index (II) of 6–15 mm, treated by all first premolars extractions, were randomly allocated to 0.022″ slot conventional ligating bracket system, 0.018″ slot SL bracket system, 0.018″ slot SL bracket system (tandem archwires), 0.022″ slot SL bracket system, and 0.022″ slot SL bracket system (tandem archwires). The rate of alignment for each bracket system was measured from the difference in the II of serial casts taken at pretreatment and at the end of alignment, divided by the number of days between the two measurements. A one-way ANOVA model with post hoc Bonferroni multiple comparison procedures was used to identify intergroup differences. Results: The mean value of alignment efficiency was not found to be statistically significant in any of the five groups using digital models (P = 0.104). Conclusions: Alignment efficiency was not different between SL versus conventional ligating group, the 0.018″ slot versus 0.022″ slot and tandem versus standard mechanics. Keywords: Alignment efficiency, self-ligation, tandem archwires