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Published on: May 1, 2020
Magnitude and reproducibility of forces generated by clinicians during laceback placement
B S Khambay1, S McHugh, D T Millett
1Unit of Orthodontics, Glasgow Dental School, 378 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JZ, UK. bkhambay@yahoo.com
Objective:
To determine the magnitude and reproducibility of forces generated by clinicians during laceback placement using a force-measuring typodont.
Setting:
An in vitro investigation.
Materials And Methods:
An in vitro typodont model was developed, which incorporated strain gauges attached to a personal computer to allow measurement of the force generated on application of lacebacks. Ten operators were instructed to place lacebacks five times, on two separate occasions (T1 and T2). Inter-operator and intra-operator forces produced at T1 and T2 were compared.
Main Outcome Measures:
Forces generated by laceback placement.
Results:
The forces generated by clinicians ranged from 0 to 11.1 N. There were significant differences in the mean forces generated by the different operators (P < 0.001), with differences between time points not being consistent across all operators (P < 0.001). Some operators were more consistent than others in the forces generated.
Conclusion:
In vitro, there was a large inter-operator variation in the forces produced during laceback placement. With the in vitro model used in this study, few operators applied similar forces when placing lacebacks on two separate occasions.