In Vitro Comparison of the Debonding Characteristics of 2 Pliers Used for Ceramic Brackets

Recently, a new type of debonding instrument designed to be used with ceramic brackets was introduced. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the debonding characteristics of the new instrument when removing ceramic and metal brackets and to compare these characteristics to those produced by conventional debonding pliers. Forty-five maxillary premolars were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups. In group 1, Clarity Collapsible Ceramic Brackets (3M Unitek, Monrovia, CA) were debonded using conventional Utility/Weingart pliers (3M Unitek, Monrovia, CA). In group 2, the ceramic brackets were debonded using the new Debonding Instrument (3M Unitek). In group 3, Metal brackets (Victory series 3M Unitek) were debonded using conventional pliers. In group 4, the metal brackets were debonded using the new debonding instrument. For all teeth, the same bracket bonding system was used. After debonding, all the teeth and brackets were examined under 10x magnifications. Adhesive remaining after debonding was assessed using the modified adhesive remnant index. The comparisons (χ2 = 8.73) of the adhesive remnant index scores indicated that the 2 pliers have significantly different (P = 0.013) bracket failure modes when debonding ceramic brackets. For both groups 1 and 2, most of the adhesive remained on the tooth; however, significantly less adhesive was observed on the teeth that were debonded with the new debonding pliers. There were no significant differences (χ2 = 0.10, P = 0.919) in the debonding mode of the metal brackets when using the 2 pliers. The results from this study suggest that the new Instrument may remove more of the adhesive during the debonding of ceramic brackets, which in turn may save the clinician chair time.