EVALUATION OF ACCURACY OF MOLAR BAND SLOT PRESCRIPTION AND TORSIONAL PLAY
Author(s): Sruthi Harikrishnan* and Arvind Sivakumar
Abstract
Background: The molar buccal tube allows the arch wire to pass through while applying a torqueing force or allowing the wire to slide as tooth movement on the molar occurs. Despite proper molar band positioning, many orthodontists encounter issues such as buccal or lingual rolling in of molars, which can be caused by manufacturing defects in preformed molar bands that go unnoticed the majority of the time.
Aim: This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of molar band slot precision and their respective Torsional play.
Materials and methods: A sample of 45 first upper molar buccal tubes from three different Indian orthodontic manufacturers. The measurements of the first molar band dimension were performed using an optical microscope. The height and the width were measured on straight lines connecting the most external points of each side at three different sites and the average measurement of the three values was taken as the final measurement. The torsional play was calculated using the formula used by Joch in 2015.
Results: The highest theoretical mesial slot play was seen in group 1 and lowest in group 4. The highest theoretical distal slot play was seen in group 2 and lowest in group 3. One-way ANOVA showed statistically significant differences in the distal slot height (p-0.000) distal slot length (p-0.000) and distal slot play (p-0.001).
Conclusion: All the 3 Indian brand’s molar tubes evaluated in this study had oversized slot lumens and loss of torque control during orthodontic treatment. So orthodontists using these brands should take extra caution and as when required should compensate for the anticipated torque loss with customization of arch wires, which necessitates additional chair time as well as total treatment time.