Abstract:
This study aims to evaluate changes in the dimensions of dental arches during the alignment and leveling in cases treated with self-ligating appliances. The study was conducted in patients with complete permanent dentition till first molars. The following measures were evaluated: intercanine distance (A), interpremolar distance (B) (B), intermolar distance (C), arch length (D+E), arch perimeter (F) and index of Little (IL) in a group of 30 patients, containing 20 females and 10 males, with a mean initial age of 21.83 years, and the mean treatment time was 1.33 years, without previous orthodontic or orthopedic treatments. The measurements were taken in study models at the beginning of treatment and after the alignment and leveling, considered one month after rectangular steel wires were inserted within the slot of the bracket. It was concluded that there was no statistically significant increase in intercanine distance, and there was a statistically significant increase of interpremolar and intermolar distance, and in the length and perimeter of arch.
