Active self-ligating systems

Note that fixed appliances that I use are the SPEED™ self-ligating system that you can see under the Appliances tab of our site.

However, the In-Ovation^® C and QuicKlear^® clear ceramic brackets are available for our patients who request them.

1- Active self-ligating systems

The majority of companies who provide conventional orthodontic appliances have developed self-ligating systems. Several versions were put on the market, but not all have had the commercial success of the SPEED™ brackets.

Thus, here is a non-exhaustive list of modern self-ligating brackets currently available.

•In-Ovation^® R and In-Ovation^® C

•Empower™

•BioQuick^® and QuicKlear^®

•Nexus™ and Nexus Clear™

You will notice, by their appearance, that they look like the SPEED™ bracket, because they all have a clip with a little opening at the front. This says it all on the ingenuity of the SPEED™ brackets invented by the Canadian Dr G. Herbert Hanson.

We can say that the majority of active self-ligating systems are a more or less successful copy of the SPEED™ brackets. Another similarity to note is the one with the twin bracket-like conventional systems (the four tie wings).

The disadvantage of such similarity with the twin bracket is that it is difficult, not to say impossible, to miniaturize the bracket. All other self-ligating systems are thus necessarily bigger and larger than the SPEED™ system.

Here are 2 smiles of patients wearing In-Ovation^® C clear brackets. Notice that the wire or the clips, because they are made of metal, stay visible. The appearance is not always as discreet as what a patient can expect, mostly when it is necessary to use elastomeric chains during the treatment to close small interdental spaces.

This patient shown on the left chose the QuicKlear^® brackets. The esthetic benefit, if it exists, comes from the fact that the metal clip is narrower than the one of the In-Ovation^® C bracket.

American Orthodontics Empower™ bracket presents the same design as the Dentsply GAC In-Ovation^® R bracket, because both companies have rights on the patent of the bracket.

Ormco Nexus™ and Nexus Clear™ brackets are identical to the FORESTADENT^® BioQuick^® and QuicKlear^® brackets because Ormco concluded a trade deal with FORESTADENT^®.

The main difference between the QuicKlear^® and In-Ovation^® C brackets is the narrower metal clip which does not cover the whole width of the bracket.

The picture on the right makes the comparison easier. The size of the ceramic base is comparable, but the metal clip is narrower.

Let’s say it objectively, it is not better or worse. They are 2 different brackets that work, which have their benefits (being translucent) and their disadvantages (being bigger than a metal bracket).