By Jay Gerber, DDS, FICCMO, DIAO, DAIPM B racket placement of Self-Ligating Brackets (SLB) is related to the long axis of the clinical crown as in typi-cal straight wire type brackets and appliances. SLB brackets are designed to be located on the center of each clinical crown, verti-cally and horizontally. The middle of the horizontal slot of each bracket should be positioned at the horizontal center of the clinical crown. Thus, as described by Andrews (developer of the straight wire appliance (SWA), SWA brackets were designed to fit to the middle of each anatomical crown of a specific tooth. The idea for SWA was to provide for a uniform approach to establish consistency in orthodontics. As Andrews described: to be consistent with normal. Or, the best nature could provide without treating orthodontically. The basic premise of SLB is simply to make the treat-ment go faster by using a bracket that reduced play in the arch wires and allows the wires to be more functional over the entire time the wire is engaged into the bracket. This is an attempt that improves greatly over brackets that engage arch wires using elastics. For a more uniform approach, we like to measure the position of the brackets on the teeth. For place-ment we use the measurement of the upper and lower lateral incisors Fig. 2: Typical SLB has metal on all four sides to best control position of the arch wire. Fig. 3: Gates easily open to allow for placement of the arch wires. Fig. 1: The arch wire is always in the slot of the SLB bracket. Simply, it’s quick and more efficient tooth movement because it never stops working. (Photos of Nustar Gen2 brackets provided by OrthoArch) 30 Summer 2022 JAOS
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Summer 2022: Page 30
