Variación en el tamaño de la ranura de brackets de autoligado Variations in slot size of self-ligating brackets

The purpose of this study was to assess four different self-ligating bracket designs to determine which has the most accurate slot dimensions in the 0.022” dimension. Forty brackets of four different self-ligating bracket designs (Damon 3, Damon 3 MX, InOvation, Forestadent) were randomly selected. The brackets were measured at the slot height 2 times on each side, in the internal portion of the slot and in its most external portion using a Nikon Profi le Projector model V-16D. The mean value of the slot height measurement at the internal portion was for Damon 3 brackets: 0.02332” ± 0.00030”; for Damon 3 MX, 0.02305” ± 0.00040”; for InOvation, 0.02264” ± 0.00032”, and for Forestadent, 0.02341” ± 0.00032”. At the height measurement in the outer portion of the slot, the mean value for Damon 3 was 0.02333” ± 0.00038”; for Damon 3 MX, 0.02337” ± 0.00044”; for InOvation, 0.02295” ± 0.00032”; and for Forestadent, 0.02345” ± 0.00025”. The slot walls in the Damon bracket were parallel and in the other three self-ligating bracket designs, they were divergent. The results showed that there were statistically signifi cant differences in terms of internal and external slot dimensions of the four different designs of self-ligating brackets (p < 0.05).