The Relationship Between the Amount of Orthodontic Tooth Movement and the Effectiveness of Computer Assisted Treatment

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of SureSmile technology and determine if a correlation exists between discrepancy and overall movement throughout treatment. Methods: Digital pre-treatment models, predicted final treatment models, and actual final treatment models of 30 patients were superimposed to determine both the overall movement each tooth completed throughout treatment, the amount of discrepancy between predicted and actual results, and if any correlation exists between these two findings. Results: Statistically significant correlation between amount of overall tooth movement and discrepancy between predicted and actual final alignment was found in the following instances: Mesial-distal dimension in maxillary canines. Facial-lingual dimension of maxillary central incisors, and lateral incisors. Torque of maxillary central incisors, lateral incisors, 1st molars, and all mandibular teeth. Rotation of maxillary central incisors. Conclusion: The effectiveness of SureSmile is highly variable and dependent on tooth type and dimension of movement.