Unraveling Teeth in Stage I of Tip-Edge By Jeffery Gerhardt, DDS ® Techniques for unraveling anterior teeth that can also be applied to Tip-Edge as well as Straight Wire orthodontics Fig. 1 M ost dentists who do Tip-Edge orthodontics are famil-iar with the illustration of Stage I as presented in Fig. 1. A typical way of starting a Tip-Edge orthodontic case is to place molar tubes on the first molars, bracket the anterior teeth, and use a .016 stainless steel wire with bite opening bends to correct an overbite. The idea behind this is to push off the first molars to intrude the anterior teeth with a light 2 once force. The patient is instructed to wear a 2 once, class II elastic to pull the upper anterior teeth posteri-orly to correct any overjet and offset the protrusive force of the .016 wire with anchor bends. In cases with severe anterior crowding, the dentist cannot get the .016 stainless wire to fit and must first unravel (or straighten) the anterior teeth before engaging the .016 stainless steel wires. This article will give some techniques for unraveling anterior teeth that can also be applied to Tip-Edge as well as Straight Wire orthodontics. ARSENOL Wires There are several wires which can be used to unravel teeth. 1. .016 stainess steel wires 2. .016 or .014 Nickel titanium (niti) wires 3. .016 stainless steel wires looped wires 4. Combinations of these Auxillaries 1. Standard modules 2. Ligature wires 3. .016 zing string 4. E-links Techniques 1. NiTi wires 2. .016 looped wires 3. Piggy back – .016 Stainless steel wires with a .014 niti wire Fig. 2 54 March/April 2011 JAOS
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society March-April 2011: Page 54
