Pain Experience During Initial Alignment With Self-ligating And Conventional Brackets: A Controlled Clinical Trial

Aim: To compare the pain experience among orthodontic patients treated withSelf-ligating brackets (SLBs) Smart-Clip (3M Unitek, Monrovia,Calif, USA)and conventional brackets (CBs) Victory series (3M Unitek, Monrovia, Calif,USA). Materials and Methods: A controlled clinical trial comparing37patientstreated with SLBs to36patients treated by CBs. The nickel-titanium (NiTi)archwires0.012-in were engaged after bonding both arches on the first day; andthe Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to assess the pain experience ofparticipants for the first seven treatment days. The pre-treatment dental castmodels were assessed by the Little’s irregularity index to quantify the groups’malalignment characteristics.Results: The SLBs group reported lower daily mean pain scores than the CBsgroup throughout the first week of treatment. Nonetheless, the analysis ofcovariance (ANCOVA), showed groups statistically significant difference only onthe first three treatment days (P <.05). The difference was smaller than theintended minimum clinical significant value of18-mm VAS. The pain experiencesin both groups decreased steadily from the third treatment day to the end of thefirst week of treatment.Conclusions: The use of self-ligating brackets slightly lowers the pain experience:However, the difference observed after the third day of treatment is notstatistically significant. The pain experience tends to decrease steadily from thethird treatment day to the end of the first week of treatment irrespective of thebracket type used.