Controlled localized buckling responses of orthodontic arch wires

The orthodontic arch wire is often activated locally, in transverse bending and/or longitudinal torsion, to engage an individual malaligned tooth. Arch wires with substantial flexibilities and elastic ranges in bending are available. Several clinical reports of distal displacements of molars with appliances activated by locally buckling the arch wire have appeared in the recent published literature. This article contains an explanation of buckling or "column" action and the postbuckling response of a wire, and a report of the results of a controlled, in-vitro study of a sample of 256 wire segments subjected to activation-deactivation, buckling-postbuckling-unbuckling cycles. Continuous force-displacement diagrams were obtained from mechanical tests run at oral temperature. Four orthodontics-relevant, mechanical characteristics were quantified from each diagram, and each specimen was subjected to posttest evaluation for inelastic behavior. Although the deformation of the buckled wire is, in fact, bending, the force-displacement diagrams obtained differed substantially from their familiar counterparts generated in transverse bending. Judging from the force magnitudes induced as the deactivation half-cycles commenced as well as the deactivation rates, not all of the 8 wires seem to be clinically suitable for activation initiated by buckling. Magnitudes of springback were substantial from activations as large as 6 mm, and only 2 of the 8 wires exhibited full deactivations less than 80% of their activating displacements. This relatively new mode of arch wire activation that enables delivery to the dentition of mesiodistal pushing forces has substantial potential for clinical application from several biomechanical standpoints.