Buccolingual Inclination Control of Upper Central Incisors of Aligners: A Comparison with Conventional and Self-Ligating Brackets

OBJECTIVE: The upper incisors torque expression is essential for the orthodontic treatment accuracy. Various orthodontic devices are claimed to have different inclination control capacity. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the radiographic buccolingual inclination of upper incisors in patients treated with three different orthodontic techniques. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Conventional brackets (Victory, 3M), self-ligating appliances (Damon Q, Ormco), and aligners (Invisalign, Align Technology) were tested. Cephalometric data of 25 patients with similar skeletal and dental pretreatment parameters were collected for each technique. Position changes of upper central incisors were assessed with radiographic evaluation before and after therapy. Three different parameters were considered: 11(∧)SnaSnp, 11(∧)Ocl and I+ TVL. All variables were measured before (T0) and after (T1) treatment and their variation over treatment was assessed. RESULTS: When evaluating angular measurements, 11(∧)SnaSnp and 11(∧)Ocl angles showed the highest numeric variation with conventional brackets. Lowest values were reported with aligners. However, the differences among various techniques were not significant for both angles (P>0.05). Also I+ TVL linear value variation did not show significant differences among the different groups tested (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Conventional multibrackets appliance showed the highest incisal position variations over treatment, but the differences among various groups were not significantly different.