Perceived pain for orthodontic patients with conventional brackets or self-ligating brackets over 1 month period: A singlecenter, randomized controlled clinical trial
The objective of this 2-arm parallel trial was to test the superiority
of self-ligating brackets (SLB) over conventional brackets (CB) in terms of perceived
pain for orthodontic patients.
Methods: Patients about to undergo treatment were included to fixed appliance placed with
CB or SLB. Eligibility criteria included malocclusion patients whose age between 12 to 40 years
and suitable for orthodontic fixed appliance treatment.
The main outcome was pain intensity
measured by visual analog scale (VAS) with all patients followed at 4 h, 24 h, 3 days, 1 week
and 1 month.
Randomization was accomplished with a computer-generated list of random
numbers. Blinding was applicable for outcome assessment only.
Data were analyzed using multi-
level nonlinear mixed effect model, Friedman’s test and Wilcoxon signed rank test with the
Bonferroni correction for multiple tests.
