Are self-ligating brackets' slots dimensions accurate?

Objective: The purpose of this study is to measure the dimensions of the slot's top and base of passive self-ligating brackets of three commercial and available systems and to compare the measured dimensions with the manufacturers' published dimensions. Methods: Digital microscope was used to measure the slot's top and base of 40 Central incisor brackets by three different manufacturers, Carriere SLX (Ortho Organizer, USA), Damon Q (Oramco USA) and Smart Clip (3M Unitek USA). The measurements were taken after the doors of all brackets were removed and compared with the manufacturers' claimed dimensions. Results: All brackets showed a significant increase in dimensions from both the slot's top and base compared to the manufacturers' published dimensions. For the base of the bracket's slot, Carriere SLX brackets showed the least difference while Damon Q brackets had the greatest. Moreover, for the top of the bracket's slot, the Smart clip brackets showed the greatest difference. The percentage of difference between the actual measurements and the manufacturers' prescriptions shows that for the slot's base, Carriere SLX brackets had the smallest percentage increase by .36%, followed by Smart clip by 6.7% and the Damon Q brackets by 8.1%. While for the slot's top Carriere SLX had the smallest percentage increase by .72%, followed by Damon Q by 12.3% increase and finally Smart Clip brackets by 12.8%. Conclusions: The actual measurements of passive self-ligating brackets from 3 manufacturers were larger than the manufacturers' published dimension. This amount of increase may affect the amount torque expression. (C) 2018 CEO. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved