Direct 3D printing aligners - past, present and future possibilities.

The aim of this paper is to introduce the general dentist to recent advances in 3D printing technology used in orthodontics. 3D printing is a highly evolving area of dentistry with continual developments. New advances now allow the in-house delivery of printed aligners. Advocates of this new technology suggest the benefits of more prescriptive and controlled tooth movement in comparison to conventional thermoformed appliances. However, there is currently limited evidence on the efficiency of this material and more research needs to be carried out to validate this new technology.

Fully-customized lingual appliances: how lingual orthodontics became a viable treatment option.

Despite being available for over 30 years, it is perhaps only over the past decade or so that lingual therapy has entered into the mainstream and become a viable treatment option. This paper outlines the problems encountered with traditional lingual techniques and describes how fully-customized lingual appliances have been designed to overcome many of the issues that had risked confining lingual orthodontics to the margins of clinical practice.

Bonding characteristics of a self-etching primer and precoated brackets: an in vitro study.

Little is known about the performance of Transbond Plus Self-Etching Primer (TPSEP), especially when used with Adhesive Precoated Brackets (APC 1 and APC 2). The aim of this study was to compare the shear bond and rebond strengths and failure sites of APC 1 and APC 2 with a non-coated bracket system [Victory Series (V)] using Transbond XT light-cured adhesive and TPSEP or 37 percent phosphoric acid as the conditioner. The results demonstrated that on dry testing of 120 brackets when applying an occluso-gingival load to produce a shear force at the bracket-tooth interface, there was no statistically significant difference in the shear bond strength (SBS) of APC 1 (68.4 N), APC 2 (74.9 N), and V brackets (75.4 N, control group). There was also no significant difference in bond failure sites of the APC 1 and APC 2 when compared with the non-coated bracket system using Transbond XT light-cured adhesive and TPSEP, with bond failure for all groups occurring mainly at the adhesive-enamel interface. There was a significant difference in the SBS of the V brackets when using TPSEP and 37 percent phosphoric acid as the conditioners. The latter was lower (60.6 N) and the bond failure site changed from the enamel-adhesive interface to the bracket-adhesive interface. The shear rebond strengths of all bracket types were statistically significantly lower (P < 0.05) than their initial SBS (APC 1, APC 2, and V: 35.9, 36.7, and 34.1 N, respectively) and the locus of bond failure altered from the adhesive-enamel interface to the bracket-adhesive interface. A clinical trial using TPSEP as a conditioner would be useful as the time taken to remove the adhesive from the enamel surface may be reduced following debond.