Orthodontic Products – May 2009
Focus on Brackets

A look at the new brackets on the market

RMO

RMO, Denver, offers its SWLF Synergy Râ„¢ bracket system, which features passive, minimal friction and complete control when needed. The system incorporates a MIM convertible cap on the cuspid and bicuspid brackets that allows the ease of a self-ligating bracket with the flexibility of Synergy®’s Friction Selection Control (FSC) modes. The SWLF Synergy R system has no clips or doors. It allows rapid wire changeout with cuspid and bicuspid brackets that can be converted into traditional Synergy-style brackets at any time during treatment. Once converted, Synergy’s FSC modes allow clinicians to ligate the bracket in different ways to achieve different degrees of friction and rotational control.

RMO Inc
(800) 766-6784
www.rmortho.com


Ortho-byte

Ortho-byte, Wilmington, Del, offers its Autonomy Mini Self-Ligating Brackets, which open with an explorer and close with the touch of a finger. Unlike other systems, opening the clip with a finger is not possible, preventing side effects. The smooth clip remains passive when used with an archwire with dimensions of up to .018 x .022 inches. When more force is necessary, the passive system can be activated by increasing the archwire dimension. Autonomy Self-Ligating Brackets have a four-point contact slot with rounded edges and a horizontal auxiliary slot for sectionals, uprighting, and rotation springs; a true twin, four-tie-wing design that permits increased rotational control and the use of chain elastics; small, strong ball hooks on the cuspids and bicuspids; contoured edges and smooth labial surfaces to enhance patient comfort; a bracket base designed to increase bond strength; accurate in and out dimensions; and a compound contoured base with built-in torque and angulations. The brackets have a vertical scribe line for accurate placement. They are color-coded for easy identification; made from high-quality, nickel-free steel suitable to all patients; and available in Roth and MBT prescriptions with an .018 or .022 slot.

Ortho-byte
(302) 798-1234
www.ortho-byte.com


Opal Orthodontics

Opal Orthodontics, South Jordan, Utah, offers Avex MX stainless steel brackets as part of the Avex Suite, a system of metal and ceramic brackets that are milled using a computerized, high-tech manufacturing process. Their in/out dimensions are interchangeable with Avex CXi brackets, reducing the need for compensating bends in the archwire between metal and ceramic brackets and between brackets and buccal tubes. Other features include a low-profile design for patient comfort; generous tie-wing undercuts for double tying; rounded tie wings for ligation and patient comfort; an integral ball hook design that uses a cylinder shank for higher strength and precise bending; an optional oval-shaped offset bicuspid pad for superior fit and bond strength; and a microetched 80-gauge mesh base for optimal tensile and shear/peal bond strength.

Opal Orthodontics
(888) 863-5883
www.opalorthodontics.com


Dentsply-GAC International

Dentsply-GAC International, Bohemia, NY, offers its In-Ovation C ceramic self-ligating bracket. The bracket’s easy-open clip has a low-sheen surface, and its flexible, interactive design allows the orthodontist to control the degree of wire engagement for optimal finishing. A specially designed base and proprietary process are utilized to produce a true, reliable mechanical bond.

Dentsply-GAC International
(800) 645-5530
www.gacintl.com


G&H Wire Co

G&H Wire Co, Franklin, Ind, offers the Zenith Series aesthetic brackets, which are precision designed and manufactured so that no special treatment mechanics or bonding procedures are necessary—just the same clinical techniques routinely used with metal brackets. Zenith Ceramic and Composite brackets are compatible in design and dimension, so they can be used interchangeably. Deep bite cases can now be bonded with composite brackets on the lower anteriors and ceramics on the rest of the case—with full compatibility.

G&H Wire Co
(800) 526-1026
www.ghwire.com


MASEL

MASEL, Bristol, Pa, introduces its Bravo Excel Roth Bracket, a low-profile, stainless-steel bracket manufactured using MIM technology. Bravo Excel features a color-coded identification system, a through-the-base vertical scribe line, and a 100-count mesh base. Bravo Excel comes packaged in trays, wheels, bags, or in a dispensing system called the Patient Pack, which contains a complete set of brackets arranged tweezer-ready on a built-in setup tray. Once open, bracket covers convert to holding wells for the primer and etch. Masel also offers a Bracket Buyers’ Club, which saves members 50% off all bracket orders and custom-welded band and tube assemblies.

Masel
(800) 423-8227
www.maselortho.com


Ortho Technology Inc

Ortho Technology Inc, Tampa, Fla, introduces the Lotus Passive Self-Ligating Bracket System. The Lotus Bracket is designed to provide passive engagement while reducing friction and improving sliding mechanics. It features a patented, convertible clip that allows for easy opening with an explorer and secure closing with a tweezer or utility plier. No special instruments are required. The clip is made of high-quality nickel titanium for flexibility and long life and can be removed if ligature ties are desired during the finishing phase. The Lotus bracket features an ultra low-profile mini-twin design, rhomboid shape, and contoured tie wings for maximum patient comfort. The 80-gauge foil mesh contoured base is made for maximum bond strength and simplified, accurate placement.

Ortho Technology Inc
(800) 999-3161
www.orthotechnology.com


Comfort Solutions

Comfort Solutions Inc, Langley, BC, Canada, introduces its Comfort Caps, which are made from mouth-guard material and designed to fit over Herbst screws. Orthodontists can use them to cover ceramic or metal brackets, Class II correcting springs, HTH appliances, TP flip locks, transpalatal arches, and TAD anchoring devices. According to the company, the protective coverings provide instant relief and quick healing to intraoral ulcers caused by impinging appliances. They also provide comfort to patients who play musical instruments and protection to incisal edges that occlude against ceramic brackets.

Comfort Solutions Inc
(604) 532-2078
www.comfortsolutions.ca


Henry Schein Dental

Henry Schein Dental, Melville, NY, introduces its custom-fit Edgewise Direct Bond Brackets, which are contoured to match tooth shape for an ideal fit and maximum bond strength. Their low-profile design and smooth, rounded edges are designed to be comfortable for patients. The brackets are available in a single-patient case setup that includes 20 brackets, bicuspid to bicuspid upper and lower, or a five-case setup of 100 brackets.

Henry Schein Dental
(800) 372-4346
www.henryscheindental.com


Ortho Organizers

Ortho Organizers, Carlsbad, Calif, offers the Carriere LX nickel-free self-ligating bracket. It features a simple locking mechanism that opens with an explorer and closes securely with the touch of a finger; a low profile designed to maximize patient comfort; a wide bracket width that provides rotational control; and low-friction, low-force orthodontics with quick and easy archwire changes.

Ortho Organizers
(888) 851-0533
www.orthoorganizers.com


WildSmiles Brackets

WildSmiles Brackets, Omaha, Neb, offers WildSmiles brackets, an alternative to conventional square brackets that come in a choice of shapes: star, heart, soccer ball, flower, super-diamond, and football. WildSmiles brackets allow patients to personalize their smiles. The stainless steel twin brackets, manufactured and assembled in the United States, work with Roth and MBT systems and are available for the maxillary anterior teeth only.

WildSmiles Brackets
www.wildsmiles4you.com


Dentaurum USA

Dentaurum USA, Newtown, Pa, introduces the discovery sl low-profile self-ligating bracket. The MIM bracket features a passive clip design and full tie wings for optional active control.

Dentaurum USA
(800) 523-3946
www.dentaurum.com


Ortho Classic

Ortho Classic, McMinnville, Ore, introduces the TenBrook Axis passive self-ligating system. The low-friction, light-force orthodontic solution has smooth, rounded edges. Its cap rotates and locks into both open and closed positions and gently seats the wire for quick wire engagements. The fully passive, chamfered archwire slot eliminates ligating forces, allowing the teeth to move with significantly reduced friction while increasing interbracket distance and slot dimensions. The Pad-Lok 80 mesh base is designed for optimum pad-to-tooth fit, which provides reliable bonds. Each bracket is color-coded for easy identification and is available with or without hooks on the canines and bicuspids.

Ortho Classic
(866) 752-0065
www.orthoclassic.com


Forestadent USA

Forestadent USA, St Louis, offers the new QuikClear translucent active, twin-winged, ceramic self-ligating bracket. Its inverse-formed hook-style base with diametrically offset retaining holes and bevelled mesiodistal edges facilitates bonding to the tooth.

Forestadent USA
(800) 721-4940
www.forestadentusa.com


American Orthodontics

American Orthodontics, Sheboygan, Wis, offers the Radiance bracket, which is made from single-crystal, pure grown sapphire. According to the company, each crystal is honed and then polished into a smooth, clear, and strong bracket. Once bonded, Radiance is nearly invisible on the tooth. Radiance is made with the company’s patented Quad-Matteâ„¢ bonding base so Radiance brackets stay where they are placed but debond safely and easily with any debonding instrument.

American Orthodontics
(800) 558-7687
www.americanortho.com


Ormco Corp

Ormco Corp, Orange, Calif, introduces the all-metal Damon® Qâ„¢ self-ligating bracket with a SpinTekâ„¢ slide. The SpinTek slide requires only a slight twist to open and disperses forces in opposite directions for a net force of 0. The Damon Q’s small size and profile helps prevent occlusal interference; optimized slot depths include tighter tolerances on lower anterior brackets for improved rotation control and fast, low-friction tooth movement; dual auxiliary slots allow for greater treatment versatility involving high cuspids, blocked-out laterals, and more; and removable positioning gauges help with precision bracket placement and smile arc enhancement.

Ormco Corp
(800) 854-1741
www.ormco.com


DynaFlex

Dynaflex, St Louis, offers its MTXâ„¢ low-profile mini twin bracket. The one-piece-construction, metal-injection-molded brackets are nickel-free and come in a variety of prescriptions, including Roth, MBT, and Dynamic. They feature smooth, rounded edges for patient comfort and a full-radius, low-profile design. They are also color-coded for easy identification.

Dynaflex
(800) 489-4020
www.dynaflex.com


Gestenco International AB

Gestenco International AB, Gothenburg, Sweden, offers the Oyster ESL Self-Ligating Transparent Esthetic Bracket, which has a “snap-on door” designed for fast and easy archwire changes. The door holds the wire in place and also gives increased comfort for the patient, with no irritating tie-wings or metal ligatures.

According to the company, sliding mechanics are much faster than with ordinary brackets, and the heavily reduced friction facilitates rapid tooth movement. There are no elastomeric ligatures that discolor or trap food. A wedge inside the door of the upper incisors makes the bracket active in the final stages with heavier wires, allowing for an active slot on the incisors but a passive slot on the cuspids and bicuspids. In order to enhance and further strengthen the door mechanism of the Oyster, a stainless steel hinge avoids any breakage or loss of “snap-on function.”

Gestenco International AB
(46) 31810035
www.gestenco.com


Lancer Orthodontics

Lancer Orthodontics, San Marcos, Calif, offers the Praxis Bracket System, made via a combination of metal injection molding and robotics. A propriety formula stainless-steel feedstock is molded into a “green state” bracket, the binding materials are removed via a sintering process, and an anatomically designed 100-gauge foil mesh pad is brazed onto the bracket. It has a rhomboidal shape, torque in the base, and a scribe line through the bracket body and pad to aid in placement. Praxis brackets are available in the Redi-Pak System for efficient bonding and reduced inventory levels. They are also available with a gingivally offset base and as a hybrid self-ligating system.

Lancer Orthodontics
(800) 854-2896, ext 2751
www.lancerortho.com


LeoneAmerica

LeoneAmerica, Avondale, Ariz, offers the Leone Idea-L Light Lingual System to treat patients with light relapses or those who desire to improve their smile with invisible treatment. The bulbous design of the Slide ligature pad allows a low friction-free sliding alignment of the anteriors and adds additional protection to the tongue, and the two-dimensional biomechanics align and level anterior teeth within a few weeks, according to the company. The small bracket size, along with the reduced thickness used with the Slide ligature pad, is designed to provide maximum patient comfort with minimal impact on the speech patterns. For accurate positioning, either indirect bonding or the special Idea-L bracket height jig can be used.

LeoneAmerica
(800) 242-9986
www.americantooth.com


ClassOne Orthodontics

ClassOne Orthodontics, Lubbock, Tex, offers its nickel-free CarriÈre SLB self-ligating bracket, which is made of a base and a sliding wall. The curved trajectory of the closing slide and the smooth, rounded edges make it a comfortable bracket with a low profile.

The design of the CarriÈre SLB avoids the binding of the arch to the bracket, according to the company. The forces that are applied for adequate orthodontic treatment are not interfered with by binding the forces that are normally present from elastic o-rings or metal ties. The result is minimal friction and improved sliding mechanics. The bracket can be opened with an explorer and can be closed with a finger.

ClassOne Orthodontics
(800) 343-5291
www.classoneortho.com


Space Maintainers

Space Maintainers, Chatsworth, Calif, introduces its A.T. Straightwire brackets. Each patient kit comes mounted on a chairside delivery tray. The patient kit includes upper and lower molar to molar brackets with hooks on the cuspids and the first and second bicuspids.

Space Maintainers
(800) 423-3270
www.appliancetherapy.com


3M Unitek

3M Unitek, St Paul, Minn, introduces the enhanced SmartClip SL3 Self-Ligating Appliance System. Compared to earlier versions, the advanced SL3 clip on SmartClip brackets noticeably reduces wire-insertion forces and also reduces the removal forces required for large wires. The improved SmartClip SL3 Molar Brackets have small, low-profile tie-wings that can accommodate steel ligatures or traditional ligature modules if needed during treatment. The SmartClip SL3 System is now offered in MBTâ„¢ System prescription as well as in High and Low Torque prescriptions to accommodate a variety of treatment philosophies. Individualized treatment can also be prescribed utilizing the Variable Prescription Orthodontics (VPO) concept.

3M Unitek
(800) 423-4588
www.3MUnitek.com


Adenta USA

Adenta USA, Ivyland, Pa, offers its Evolution bracket (pictured), which combines the advantages of self-ligation with the aesthetic benefits of a lingual bracket. Adenta also offers its 3/4 Bracket, which is designed for patients with a pronounced overbite. The occlusal slot wall is shortened by approximately 50%, and the incisal walls are reduced to a minimum. The Crown Bracket uses all four sides of the bracket’s base to position the bracket to conform to the anatomy of the tooth. According to the company, this increases the accuracy in aligning and positioning the bracket, virtually eliminating misalignments and reducing chairtime.

Adenta USA
(888) 942-2070
www.adentausa.com