Determination of orthodontic bracket and tooth adaptation using an X-ray micro-computer tomography scanner

Abstract

The determination of the orthodontic brackets’ adaptation to the curvatures of teeth is a difficult topic to study. The complexity arise due to the different designs of their fitting surfaces, margins and curvatures of orthodontic brackets. Teeth on the other hand have variation in their curvatures and the question remains how well an orthodontic brackets truly adapt to the teeth. Previous methods from the literature determined the curvature of teeth through the superimposition of circular templates onto dental plaster models as well as the use of acrylic arcs of various diameters.