Objective: To evaluate the esthetic perception of upper dental midline deviation by laypersons and if adjacent structures influence their judgment. Methods:An album with 12 randomly distributed frontal view photographs of the smile of a woman with the midline digitally deviated was evaluated by 95 laypersons. The frontal view smiling photograph was modified to create from 1 mm to 5 mm deviations in the upper midline to the left side. The photographs were cropped in two different manners and divided into two groups of six photographs each: group LCN included the lips, chin, and two-thirds of the nose, and group L included the lips only. The laypersons performed the rate of each smile using a visual analog scale (VAS). Wilcoxon test, Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney test were applied, adopting a 5% level of significance. Results: Laypersons were able to perceive midline deviations starting at 1 mm. Statistically significant results (p< 0.05) were found for all multiple comparisons of the values in photographs of group LCN and for almost all comparisons in photographs of group L. Comparisons between the photographs of groups LCN and L showed statistically significant values (p< 0.05) when the deviation was 1 mm. Conclusions:Laypersons were able to perceive the upper dental midline deviations of 1 mm, and above when the adjacent structures of the smiles were included. Deviations of 2 mm and above when the lips only were included. The visualization of structures adjacent to the smile demonstrated influence on the perception of midline deviation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the duration of the retention period in growing patients undergoing maxillary expansion and its relation with posterior crossbite stability. METHODS: Search strategies were executed for electronic databases Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus, which were completed on January 15, 2016. The inclusion criteria included randomized, prospective or retrospective controlled trials in growing subjects with posterior crossbite; treated with maxillary expanders; retention phase after expansion; post-retention phase of at least 6 months. The exclusion criteria were anterior crossbite, craniofacial anomalies, surgery or another orthodontic intervention; case reports; author’s opinions articles, thesis, literature reviews and systematic reviews. The risk of bias of selected articles was assessed with Cochrane risk of bias tool for RCTs and Downs and Black checklist for non-RCTs.RESULTS: A total of 156 titles/abstracts was retrieved, 44 full-texts were examined, and 6 articles were selected and assessed for their methodological quality. The retention period after maxillary expansion ranged between 4 weeks and 16 months. Fixed (acrylic plate, Haas, Hyrax and quad-helix) or removable (Hawley and Hawley expander) appliances were used for retention.CONCLUSIONS: Six months of retention with either fixed or removable appliances seem to be enough to avoid relapse or to guarantee minimal changes in a short-term follow-up.

Digital models obtained from CBCT were not accurate for all measures assessed. The differences were clinically acceptable for all dental linear measurements, except for maxillary arch perimeter. Digital models are reproducible for all measurements when intraexaminer assessment is considered and need improvement in interexaminer evaluation.

OBJETIVO: avaliar in vitro e comparar a redução de intensidade das forças liberadas por três grupos de elásticos em cadeia, com diferentes configurações, de um mesmo fabricante, medidas em intervalos de tempo preestabelecidos. MÉTODOS: os segmentos de elásticos em cadeia foram alongados e mantidos ativados durante o experimento com o auxílio de um dispositivo desenvolvido especialmente para esse fim e para possibilitar a leitura das forças. A avaliação da degradação da força foi realizada medindo-se a intensidade da força ao longo do tempo, e calculando-se o percentual de força perdida em relação à força inicial, em cada intervalo de tempo e para cada amostra testada. RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÕES: os dados coletados foram submetidos a análises estatísticas e os resultados demonstraram que, nos momentos seguintes ao inicial, a intensidade da força variou, dentro dos grupos e entre os grupos, nos diferentes momentos. A leitura dos valores das forças remanescentes em cada momento, comparada à referência da força inicial, resultou em valores diferentes, com significância estatística, em todas as comparações efetuadas dentro de cada grupo de elásticos (curto, médio, longo). Após a análise dos resultados das comparações entre os grupos de elásticos em cadeia, conclui-se que, apesar de verificados alguns resultados estatisticamente significativos para a comparação das magnitudes das forças liberadas em cada momento, essas diferenças parecem não ter expressão clínica, demonstrando que, aparentemente, o espaçamento entre os elos não representa uma característica clinicamente significativa na degradação da força ao longo do tempo.

OBJETIVO: o objetivo desse artigo é chamar a atenção para a organização das informações disponíveis nos exames e durante o tratamento ortodôntico de indivíduos em crescimento, as quais servem como guias para a predição do estágio do surto de crescimento puberal. CONCLUSÃO: tais informações fornecem oportunidades de acréscimos no diagnóstico e prognóstico dos casos e na tomada de decisões do planejamento, evolução do tratamento e da fase de contenção, principalmente daqueles pacientes que apresentam más oclusões associadas a desarmonias esqueléticas.

Objective: This cross-sectional observational study was designed to assess the biosafety conducts adopted by orthodontists, and possible differences regarding training time. Methods: Both the application of methods for sterilization/disinfection of instruments and materials, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) were collected through questionnaires via e-mail. Results: The questionnaires were answered by 90 orthodontists with a mean age of 37.19 ± 9.08 years and mean training time of 13.52 ± 6.84 years. Regarding orthodontic pliers, 63.23% use an autoclave, except 1 who does not perform any procedure. All participants use autoclave to sterilize instruments, and 95.6% of respondents perform cleaning with chemicals prior to sterilization. Most of them (65.56%) use an autoclave to sterilize orthodontic bands, with some still associating disinfection methods, while few (18.89%) do nothing at all. There was a high incidence of the answer “nothing” for the methods used for elastic, accessories, bandages, metal springs, and arches. All respondents use mask and gloves in attendance, 78.92% use aprons, 58.92% use protective goggles, and 50.01% use cap. Training time significantly influenced (p = 0.003) only the use of glutaraldehyde for sterilization/disinfection of pliers. Conclusions: The sterilization and cleaning of pliers, instruments, and bands, besides the use of PPE, received more uniform and positive responses, while other items suggest disagreements and possible failures. Only orthodontists trained for more than 13 years choose using glutaraldehyde for pliers sterilization/disinfection, the only adopted method with a significant difference in relation to training time.

The objective of this study was to compare coating dimensions and surface characteristics of two different esthetic covered nickel-titanium orthodontic rectangular archwires, as-received from the manufacturer and after oral exposure. The study was designed for comparative purposes. Both archwires, as-received from the manufacturer, were observed using a stereomicroscope to measure coating thickness and inner metallic dimensions. The wires were also exposed to oral environment in 11 orthodontic active patients for 21 days. After removing the samples, stereomicroscopy images were captured, coating loss was measured and its percentage was calculated. Three segments of each wire (one as-received and two after oral exposure) were observed using scanning electron microscopy for a qualitative analysis of the labial surface of the wires. The Lilliefors test and independent t-test were applied to verify normality of data and statistical differences between wires, respectively. The significance level adopted was 0.05. The results showed that the differences between the wires while comparing inner height and thickness were statistically significant (p < 0.0001). In average, the most recently launched wire presented a coating thickness twice that of the control wire, which was also a statistically significant difference. The coating loss percentage was also statistically different (p = 0.0346) when the latest launched wire (13.27%) was compared to the control (29.63%). In conclusion, the coating of the most recent wire was thicker and more uniform, whereas the control had a thinner coating on the edges. After oral exposure, both tested wires presented coating loss, but the most recently launched wire exhibited better results.

No abstract