Orthodontics lab. 1 Dr.

Ghassan

General principles
Types of orthodontic appliances;
1. Removable appliances.
2. Fixed appliances.
3. Myofunctional appliances.
4. Combination between removable and fixed appliances.

Removable appliances:
They have 4 main components:
1. Active components: (ACTIVATION)which produce force for tooth
movement, as springs, screws, and active plates.
2. Retentive component: (ADJUSTMENT) responsible for holding the
appliance inside the mouth without dislodgement, as clasps.

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Orthodontics lab. 1 Dr.Ghassan

Active components
Acrylic base plate

retentive components

3. Acrylic base plate: is the major connector (connecting the various

component)
4. Anchorage: which is an imaginary component insisting the unwanted
tooth movement.

Materials in removable orthodontic appliances:

1. Pliers: universal pliers and spring forming pliers are the only two
essentials, the have the following characteristics;
a. Short blades for rigidity
b. Large comfortable handles
c. Taper of blade accurately ground as blades become parallel when
grasping 1 mm wire.
d. Sharp edges of beaks.
e. No roughing or grooving of grasping surfaces.
f. Not rusted, otherwise it will change the physical properties of
stainless-steel wire and it should manufacture from super hard
stainless-steel alloy.
Types of pliers used in the orthodontic laboratory are;
a. Angle pliers; (spring forming pliers) with one cone-shaped beak
and one pyramidal beak.

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b. Adam pliers; (universal pliers) with two pyramidal beaks.

Angle pliers Adam pliers

2. Cutters: these are of two types, heavy cutter used for wires up to 2 mm
in diameter and light cutter used for wire gauge 0.4 mm and smaller. In
the lab, usually we use the heavy cutter and it is highly recommended
to use a cutter with cutting edges free from carbide since the carbide
can influence the physical characteristics of stainless steel wires
3. Stainless steel wires.
4. Acrylic.

Orthodontic
cutter
Orthodontic
stainless steel wire

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Orthodontics lab. 1 Dr.Ghassan

Stainless steel wires:

It is used to make the active and retentive components as it will not
corrode in the patient’s mouth because of the oral environment. It consists
mainly of iron with 18% chromium, 8% nickel and small amount of
incorporated in the alloy. That is why it is called 18-8 stainless steel wire. The
chromium will coat the wire with colorless layer of chromium oxide which
will prevent the iron rusting. It can be classified according to its hardness
into;
1. Extra hard; used in orthodontic cutter edges
2. Hard: used in removable appliances for active and retentive
components because it is malleable and can be formed into springs and
clasps. It can be bent sharply and straightened if incorrect but fatigued
and broken if overloaded. This type of wire can be annealed (softened)
if it is subjected to high temperature.
3. Soft: used for ligation in fixed appliances, hooks, and for surgery
The wire has a gauge of 0.3-1.5 mm.
• In removable appliances we use 0.5-0.7mm hard stainless-steel
wire. Stainless steel wires are cheap, strong with excellent tolerance
by tissues
• 0.3-4.0mm for apron spring.
• 0.5 mm for Z and recurved Z spring, guarded finger spring, sleeved
buccal canine retractor, and sleeved Roberts retractor.
• 0.6 mm for simple finger spring, C - clasp for deciduous canines,
and T - spring.
• 0.7 mm for Adams clasp, C - clasp, fitted labial arch, unsupported
Roberts retractor, unsupported buccal canine retractor, Hawley
arch, and Mills bow.

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Advantages of stainless steel:

1- Dose not harm the mouth, and allergies are unknown.
2- Is not tarnished by oral tissues.
3- Can be supplied hard or soft.
4- Can be annealed.
5- Can be welded using spot welder.
6- Can be soldered.
7- Once adjusted, maintains its displacement.
8- Economical.
Physical properties of stainless-steel wire:
1. Fatigue: It cracks if bent for four times at the same position as a right
bend quickly.
2. Deflection: It is the distance of change of the free end of the wire from
the original position to the new position due to a given amount of force.
The deflection equals to the potential energy which is stored inside the
spring due to the amount of force of activation.
3. Flexibility: It is the ability of the free end of the spring or wire to return
its original position due to a given amount of force which is not
exceeding its modulus of elasticity.
• Flexibility is very important for the active component (springs) of the
removable appliance like Z - spring or finger spring.
4. Rigidity: It is the ability of the free end of the spring or wire to
withstand a change in position due to a given amount of force that is
not exceeding the modulus of elasticity of the alloy.
• Rigid body does not change its shape or size under the action of
forces. Rigidity is very important for the retentive component
(clasps) of the removable appliance like Adams clasp or fitted labial
arch.

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Orthodontics lab. 1 Dr.Ghassan

Mechanical properties of stainless-steel wire:

The force generated by the wire is:
1.Directly proportional to the diameter of the wire (r4).
2.Directly proportional to the deflection (d).
3.Inversely proportional with the length of the wire (l3-).
• So, the wire become more flexible if it is long and thin (small radius).
• If the length of the wire doubled, there is eight times the
displacement.
• If the width of the wire is doubled, there is 16 times the pressure on
the tooth.
• For normal orthodontic pressure, the wire should be as thin as
possible, but if too thin there is danger of damage of the wire and
trauma to soft tissues. This can be reduced by:
a. Guarding the spring or sleeving the part adjacent to acrylic.
b. The length can best be increased in the limited space available by
winding the wire into loops.
c. The best design for spring is when its stability ratio will equal to 1.
The stability ratio is the product of dividing the flexibility on
rigidity. In other words, the spring should be rigid enough to
withstand the occlusal forces and maintain the force of activation
and flexible enough to perform the required tooth movement.

Types of tooth movement:

1. Tipping movement the unequal movement of the crown and the
root around a center of rotation. It may be in:
a. Labio-lingual (buoco-palatal) direction.
b. Mesiodistal direction.
2. Rotation of less than 90 couple force system). When used in
combination with fixed appliance, they may achieve.

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3. Bodily tooth movement: movement of the crown and the root in the
same amount and direction.
4. Intrusion and extrusion: movement of the tooth along its long axis.

Orthodontic force:
The force applied by removable appliances is light and intermittent.
Since the best pressure to move a tooth is 25-30 g/cm2 of enface root
surface area, so the springs are designed to give that amount of pressure.
Types of wire bends:
1. Soft or smooth curve: formed by holding one end of the wire firmly
on one hand by pliers and forming a curve with the thumb and finger
of the other band. Please note the is made by the finger and thumb
while the pliers are used just for grasping the wire and this is true for
wire gauge up to 1 mm, but above that gauge the condition is vice
versa. Additionally, a very small diameter circle (less than 3 cm in
diameter) for 0.5 mm stainless steel wire is difficult to be made by
the thumb and finger.
2. Right angle bend: Formed by pressing the wire firmly at right angle
to the pliers.

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3. Acute bend: formed by holding the wire along the beaks of the pliers
and bending firmly back with the forefinger.
Art principles of wire bending:
1. Sitting position should be comfortable with the elbows within the level
of the working table and stand above it. This will give a good support
for the hands while working with wire bending
2. Cutting the wire should be under the bench as this will prevent trauma
to yourself or your colleagues.
3. Make the wire straight before starting and avoid the sharp ends at this
stage.
4. Do non-traumatic ends by forming very small coils (1mm in diameter)
at each end.

5. Pliers are mostly used for gripping and not for bending for any arc.
Squeeze the pliers lower arm end by your hand to get the maximum
force for pliers grasping of the wire (force arm length).
6. Always use the universal pliers (Adams pliers) for wire grasping, this will
give an area of contact with the wire while using the coil forming pliers
(Angle pliers) will give a point of contact which will form a stress
accumulation point that leads to fracture of the wire during use.
7. Wire gripping should be in with no movement for its part gripped
between pliers blades and usually the wire is perpendicular to the
blades slot.

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Orthodontics lab. 1 Dr.Ghassan

8. It's preferable to clean the hand (or the hand grasping the pliers) from
any oil or moisture by a piece of cotton dipped by alcohol
9. Mark the site of the Bend by marker pen and make a trial bend before
the final one, so you can check the accuracy of the mark site.
10. Avoid notching and sharp angles → fracture.
11. Avoid repetition→ fracture.
12. Don't go back.
13. Imagine the direction and size.
14. Always follow the anatomy and make space for acrylic (tag should
be away 0.5 min from the palate).

15. All wire bending is parallel to the gum, palate, vestibule, or the
line of occlusion in a straight or curved line according to the anatomy.
16. Circles:
a. It is recommended to be done by thumb and fingers in such way
that the plane of the index finger and the thumb holding the wire
is perpendicular on the slot of the pliers. This right angle of
bending as it becomes more acute the circle will become smaller
b. Smaller circles can be easily converted to larger, but larger circles
are difficult unless become smaller by pliers.
c. Coils are done by pliers (coil forming pliers). The ideal pliers
should have a beak of 1 square mm in area and a 22 mm beak
height that can perform coils from 1 mm diameter till 5 mm.
d. Circles and coils should be smooth in texture with no overworked
points

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Orthodontics lab. 1 Dr.Ghassan

General principles for spring design;

1. Wire dimension, as the length of wire increases the force will be
reduced and the flexibility will be increased and vice versa for the
diameter of wire.
2. Force of activation is within the optimal threshold for force that is
needed for tooth movement which is limited to that of capillary blood
pressure (20-26 grams) for each square cm of tooth root embedded
into the alveolar bone.
3. Direction of tooth movement, ideal spring design should submit a
perpendicular force on the long axis of the tooth at a nearest point
from the center of resistance of that tooth, moving the tooth either
toward or within the line of occlusion.
4. Ease of insertion and patient comfort, for cross bite the use of Z spring
for an anterior tooth will Facilitate the treatment while it is difficult for
a posterior tooth, therefore it's preferable to use T spring for posterior
tooth in cross bite. The ends of spring should be smooth & don't dig
into the patient's cheek. Palatal springs are superior to buccal springs
for patient comfort. Buccal springs & bows will produce ulceration &
trauma for mucosa & cheek if they are extended too deeply in the
vestibule. Therefore, they must end 2mm away from the highest point
of oral vestibule & 0.5 - 2mm away from the mucosa.

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Orthodontics lab. 1 Dr.Ghassan

Wire Bending Exercises

1. Straight line

2. Zigzag line

3. Arc

4. U loop

5.

6.

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