Birth of the Idea
Before we came up with the vertical slot in the Braces, we created a robot that could bend loops, and it was this ability of our machine that led us to the idea of using a vertical slot in the braces. Over the course of several weeks, we programmed our machine to bend wire according to the shape of the invented vertical slot, produced the braces, planned the wire in our program, bent it, and installed it on models. The result amazed us; the tight fixation and soft pressure led us to think that controlled torque and brace angulation are now possible, consequently allowing for predicted tooth movement in the planned direction.
Analysis of the biomechanics of tooth movement.
Of course, both engineers and professional orthodontists need to understand the instrument used to influence the tooth and the possible result. The mechanics are different for standard braces that use a horizontal slot and for braces that use a vertical slot. First of all, because in the vertical slot of the braces there is a strong fixation and the moment of the pair there is much higher than the moment of the tooth force (Fig. 2).
Clinical application and proof of theory.
We needed clinical trials in which we could verify the feasibility of our assumption. However, before we started, we still had an important question: metal or plastic braces, we decided to try both options.
The result did not take long to wait. The installed metal braces created unnecessary resistance during installation of the wire arch into the slot, while the wire was easily and very simply installed in the plastic slot. Subsequently, we abandoned metal braces.
After 2 weeks, the result was obtained – corpus movement in the distal section
Corpus movement of tooth roots
During the treatment, the orthodontist suggested complicating the experiment and helping to cope with a difficult clinical case of one of his patients. It was necessary to perform not just a body movement, but to rotate the teeth and move the roots of the teeth to make room for implants (Fig. 4).
A positive result was obtained after 3 months of using braces with a vertical slot, without special devices, without springs, orthodontic implants and buttons (Fig. 5).
The use of a vertical slot and rigid fixation of a curved wire in it is possible only with the use of digital planning and robotic wire bending, which opens up new possibilities in orthodontics. At the same time, today, the digital braces we have developed with horizontal and vertical slots allows us to further simplify and expand the possibilities of using a completely digital approach in orthodontic treatment with braces.