FRICTION REDUCTION ON ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCES

THIS PROGRAM WILL INVESTIGATE ION IMPLANTATION TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF WIRE MOVEMENT IN ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCES. ION IMPLANTATION CAN MODIFY THE SURFACE CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS WITHOUT COMPROMISING EITHER THE DESIRABLE BULK PROPERTIES OR MECHANICAL TOLERANCES. IN THE LONG TERM, WIRES AND BRACKETS WILL BE IMPROVED BY ION IMPLANTATION BECAUSE THE COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION WILL DECREASE, THUS REDUCING THE FORCES REQUIRED TO MOVE TEETH. THE CLINICALLY OBSERVED PROBLEM, THAT ARCH WIRES STICK, WILL BE AMELIORATEDAND THE EFFICIENCY AND REPRODUCIBILITY OF FORCES APPLIED TO THE TEETH BY THE CLINICIAN WILL BE IMPROVED. IN PHASE I, A FEASIBILITY STUDY WILL BE INITIATED. SEVERAL ION SPECIES WILL BE USED TO IMPLANT CONTACT CYLINDERS (WHICHREPRESENT BRACKETS) AND ARCH WIRES MADE FROM MATERIALS COMMONLY USED IN ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCES. MEASUREMENTS OF THE COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION, SURFACE HARDNESS, AND SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF THE MATERIALS BOTH PRE- AND POST-ION IMPLANTATION WILL BE MADE TO EVALUATE THE EFFECTS OF THE SURFACE TREATMENT. SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION OF REDUCED FRICTION BETWEEN CONTACTCYLINDERS AND ARCH WIRES IN THE WET STATE WILL LEAD TO A COMPREHENSIVE PHASE II PROGRAM, WHICH WILL OPTIMIZE THE ION IMPLANTATION PROCESS AND THEN WILL EVALUATE THE EFFICIENCY OF ALIGNING IRREGULAR TEETH USING ION-IMPLANTED BRACKETS AND ARCH WIRES. BOTH THE WET AND DRY STATES WILL BE INVESTIGATED.