• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.399-410
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• 2011

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the difference in frictional resistance among metal, ceramic, self-ligation brackets and coated or non-coated Ni-Ti archwires at various bracket-archwire angulations during the sliding movement of an orthodontic archwire, using an orthodontic sliding simulation device. Methods: Four types of bracket (Micro-arch Perpect Clear2 Clippy-C and Damon3 and 5 types of orthodontic archwire (0.014", 0.016", and 0.016" ${\times}$ 0.022" inch coated Ni-Ti, and 0.016" and 0.016" ${\times}$ 0.022" inch Ni-Ti) were used. Further, the bracket- archwire angles were set at 4 different angulations: $0^{\circ}$, $3^{\circ}$, $6^{\circ}$, and $9^{\circ}$. Results: The frictions from all the experimental groups were found to be significantly increased in order of self-ligation brackets, Micro-arch and Perpect Clear2 ($p$ < 0.001). The presence of a coat had no effect on the friction of the same sized archwires at $0^{\circ}$ and $3^{\circ}$ bracket-archwire angles ($p$ < 0.001). Coated archwires had significantly higher frictions than the same sized non-coated archwires at $6^{\circ}$ and $9^{\circ}$ bracket-archwire angles ($p$ < 0.001). The frictions increased significantly as the bracket-archwire angles were increased ($p$ < 0.001). Conclusions: The use of self-ligation brackets will be beneficial in clinical situations where a low frictional force is required. Further, in cases where crowding is not severe, the use of coated archwires should not cause problems. However, more additional explanation is required considering the fact that the damage of coated archwire and exposure of the metal portion in case of binding and notching and the effects of saliva were not taken into account.