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Updated: May 31, 2026

Force System with Vertical V-Bends: A 3D In Vitro Assessment of Elastic and Rigid Rectangular Archwires
Published on: July 24, 2018
Archwire depth is a significant parameter in the frictional resistance of active and interactive, but not passive,
Christa L Oliver1, John Daskalogiannakis, Bryan D Tompson
1Department of Orthodontics, University of Toronto, Canada. christa.oliver@utoronto.ca
Objective:
To elucidate some of the parameters determining the frictional behavior of passive, active, and interactive self-ligating brackets during sliding mechanics.
Materials And Methods:
A custom jig mimicking the three-dimensional tooth movements that occur during sliding mechanics and an Instron testing machine were used to determine the resistance to sliding of six different self-ligating brackets (SPEED, In-Ovation C, CarrièreSLB, ClaritySL, SmartClip, VisionLP). Each bracket was tested on three rectangular stainless steel wires: 0.017 × 0.022 inch, 0.017 × 0.025 inch, and 0.019 × 0.025 inch. A two-way balanced analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis.
Results:
The four passive self-ligating brackets (CarrièreSLB, ClaritySL, SmartClip, VisionLP) displayed significantly lower frictional resistance (P < .001) than the remaining brackets, which featured an active (SPEED) or interactive (In-Ovation C) clip. The SPEED bracket consistently demonstrated the highest resistance to sliding.
Conclusions:
The mode of self-ligation appears to be the primary variable in determining the frictional behavior of orthodontic brackets undergoing sliding mechanics. Passive self-ligating brackets demonstrated significantly lower frictional resistance to sliding. With regard to the resistance of active self-ligating brackets, the depth (buccolingual thickness) of the wire had a more significant influence than its height.
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