Previous studies have shown that tooth size ratios are ethnicity-, race-, and sex-specific. This study was carried out to determine anterior and overall ratios in a Japanese population and to compare them with Bolton's ratios. Numerical data were obtained from 60 pairs of dental casts of 30 male and 30 female Japanese orthodontic patients. The mesiodistal widths from first molar to first molar were measured on each cast to the nearest 0.01 mm, by using digital calipers, and the anterior and overall ratios were calculated. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the parametric t test, and Student t test were used for statistical analyses. No statistically significant difference between men and women was found in either the anterior or overall ratio. The combined male and female anterior and overall ratios were 78.39 +/- 2.18% and 91.60 +/- 2.11%, respectively. The combined male and female anterior ratio showed a statistically significant difference from the Bolton standard, whereas the overall ratio showed no statistically significant difference. Significant discrepancies in the anterior and overall ratios were found in 21.6% and 8.3% of patients, respectively. A high prevalence rate of an anterior tooth size discrepancy more than 2SD above Bolton's mean was found. Bolton's anterior ratio was not applicable to the Japanese population, and specific standard tooth size ratios for the Japanese population are needed.

This study was conducted to examine the bond strength of rebonded orthodontic brackets after adhesive residuals on the surface of the bracket bases were removed by Er,Cr:YSGG lasers. Seventy-six brackets bonded to premolars with a self-etching primer adhesive system were equally divided into four groups after the first debonding with the bracket bases (Group 1) untreated, and treated by (Group 2) Er,Cr:YSGG laser, (Group 3) sandblaster, and (Group 4) Er,Cr:YSGG laser/sandblaster. The treated brackets were rebonded to the new premolars in the same manner as the first-stage experiment. The shear bond strengths were measured, with the bonding/debonding procedures repeated once after the first debonding, and the bracket/adhesive failure modes were evaluated after each debonding. The treated bracket base surfaces were observed under a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mean rebond strengths were significantly lower in group 1 than in other groups, and there were no significant differences between the other groups. The mean initial bond strength was significantly higher than the mean rebond strength in group 1 but there was no significant difference between the two in the other three groups. Failures at the bracket-adhesive interface occurred frequently at second debonding in group 1. Under the SEM, residual adhesive was removed from the bracket bases by Er,Cr:YSGG laser, while adhesive remnant was seen underneath the meshwork of the bracket bases and microroughness appeared on the meshwork after sandblasting. Er,Cr:YSGG laser certainly could serve the purpose of promoting the use of recycled orthodontic brackets.

Objective: To determine an appropriate threshold for clinically significant tooth-size discrepancy using both a Bolton standard deviation (SD) definition and a millimetric definition. Materials and Methods: Mesiodistal tooth widths were measured in 250 pretreatment dental casts of patients with Class I, Class II, and Class III malocclusions. The anterior and overall ratios and the required amount of maxillary and mandibular corrections were calculated. The casts were divided into small, normal, and large groups according to the anterior and overall ratios categorized by the Bolton SD definition, and into small, normal, and large groups according to the required amount of maxillary and mandibular corrections expressed in millimeters. Results: The small and large anterior ratio groups which fell under the category of the 2 SD threshold did not always need maxillary or mandibular corrections greater than 2 mm, while the small and large overall ratio groups always needed maxillary and mandibular corrections greater than 2 mm. The small and large maxillary correction groups in the 2 mm threshold category did not always have anterior or overall ratios greater than 2 SDs from the Bolton mean. However, the small and large mandibular correction groups always had anterior ratios greater than 2 SDs and did not always have overall ratios greater than 2 SDs. Conclusions: The tooth-size discrepancies could be better expressed in terms of both percentage and actual amount of millimeters required for correction. The ratios outside 2 SDs from the Bolton mean and the discrepancies requiring more than 2 mm of maxillary and/or mandibular corrections are recommendable as the appropriate thresholds for clinical significance. (Angle Orthod. 2009; 79:740-746.)