A comparative study of frictional resistances between orthodontic bracket and arch wire

Practitioners are aware of the presence of friction in those orthodontic appliances where relative motion between bracket system and arch wire occurs in ordinary deactivation processes. Numerous comments on friction have appeared in the published dental/orthodontic literature, but little controlled research into the problem has been reported. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate and compare frictional forces generated in an experimental stimulation of the canine-retraction procedure on a continuous arch wire. Six independent variables were chosen for study: arch wire size and shape, bracket width and style, second-order angulation between bracket and passive arch wire, arch wire material, ligature force and type of ligation, and interbracket distances. Frictional resistance was found to be nonlinearly dependent upon bracket/arch wire angulation. With small and generally nonbinding angulations, bracket width and ligature force were the dominant influences on level of friction. As angulations were increased, producing binding between wire and bracket, this variable itself became the controlling parameter. Wire shape and arch wire stiffness in bending, a function of three of the variables studied, apparently exerted substantial influence on frictional-force magnitude at relatively high angulations. The reduced data, together with structural computations, were employed to deduce a minimum frictional-resistance combination of edgewise appliance components.