Objectives: To conduct an epidemiological survey of the orthodontic debonding techniques in Italy, and describe the most commonly used methods to remove the brackets and adhesive from the tooth surfaces. Materials and Methods: A survey consisting of 6 questions about bracket debonding methods and instruments used was emailed to 1000 orthodontists, who were members of the Italian Orthodontics Society (SIDO. Clinicians were characterized by different sex, age, origin, and professional experience. Results: Overall, 267 surveys were returned, representing a response rate of 26.7% of the participants interviewed. The 0.2% of the orthodontists responded, via email, confirming that they were not interested, while 3% of the questionnaires were sent back not completed. The 70.1% of the clinicians interviewed did not return any response. Overall, 64% of SIDO members (orthodontists) did not detect any enamel damage after debonding. The brackets used most frequently (89.14%) in clinical practice were the metal ones. The most commonly used pliers for bracket removal were cutters (37.08%) and bracket removal pliers (34.83%). For adhesive removal, low speed tungsten carbide burs under irrigation were the most widely utilized method for adhesive removal (40.08%), followed by high speed carbide burs (14.19%), and diamond burs (14.19%). The most frequently used instruments for polishing after debonding were rubber cups (36.70%) and abrasive discs (21.35%). The 31.21% of the orthodontists found esthetic enamel changes before bonding versus after debonding. Conclusions: This survey showed the high variability of different methods for bracket debonding, adhesive removal, and tooth polishing. The collected answers indicate that most orthodontists have developed their own armamentarium of debonding and polishing, basing their method on trials and errors.

Objective: To investigate the intensity of pain adolescent orthodontic patients experience following the insertion of separators. Materials and Methods: Elastomeric separators were placed mesially and distally to the first molars in 62 adolescents (20 male, 42 female, age 12–15 years), and the participants were given self-administrated questionnaires to document perceived pain, pain upon chewing, and the severity of pain's affecting daily life, using a visual analog scale for seven days. Results: The mean perceived pain scores out of 100 on the first 3 days were 54.6 ± 32.7, 51.7 ± 29.9, and 32.3 ± 28.4, respectively; chewing pain scores were: 61.9 ± 35.3, 52.6 ± 30.4, and 39.5 ± 32.1, respectively; the pain's affecting daily life scores were 24.9 ± 35.5, 21.1 ± 30.9, and 11.9 ± 23.7, respectively. A Kruskal–Wallis test showed a statistically significant difference in the reported pain between the three studied parameters. A Mann–Whitney U-test showed an insignificant difference between male and female adolescents. Conclusion: Pain perception varies among adolescent patients, but it decreases significantly after the first 2 days, with no gender differences.

Aims: A new Resin Modified Glass Ionomer Cement known as nanoionomer containing nanofillers of fluoroaluminosilicate glass and nanofiller 'clusters' has been introduced. An in-vitro study aimed at evaluating shear bond strength (SBS) and adhesive remnant index (ARI) of nanoionomer under etching/unetched condition for use as an orthodontic bonding agent. Material and Methods: A total of 75 extracted premolars were used, which were divided into three equal groups of 25 each: 1-Conventional adhesive (Enlight Light Cure, SDS, Ormco, CA, USA) was used after and etching with 37% phosphoric acid for 30 s, followed by Ortho Solo application 2-nanoionomer (Ketac^™ N100, 3M, ESPE, St. Paul, MN, USA) was used after etching with 37% phosphoric acid for 30 s 3-nanoionomer was used without etching. The SBS testing was performed using a digital universal testing machine (UTM-G-410B, Shanta Engineering). Evaluation of ARI was done using scanning electron microscopy. The SBS were compared using ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey test for intergroup comparisons and ARI scores were compared with Chi-square test. Results: ANOVA (SBS, F = 104.75) and Chi-square (ARI, Chi-square = 30.71) tests revealed significant differences between groups (P < 0.01). The mean (SD) SBS achieved with conventional light cure adhesive was significantly higher (P < 0.05) (10.59 ± 2.03 Mpa, 95% CI, 9.74-11.41) than the nanoionomer groups (unetched 4.13 ± 0.88 Mpa, 95% CI, 3.79-4.47 and etched 9.32 ± 1.87 Mpa, 95% CI, 8.58-10.06). However, nanoionomer with etching, registered SBS in the clinically acceptable range of 5.9–7.8 MPa, as suggested by Reynolds (1975). The nanoionomer groups gave significantly lower ARI values than the conventional adhesive group. Conclusion: Based on this in-vitro study, nanoionomer with etching can be successfully used as an orthodontic bonding agent leaving less adhesive remnant on enamel surface, making cleaning easier. However, in-vivo studies are needed to confirm the validity of present findings.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of snoring in an adult male university population, and to test the null hypothesis that there is no difference in facial profile shape, malocclusion type, or palatal morphology among snorer and nonsnorer. Materials and Methods: Berlin questionnaire was given to 840 students and employees aged 18–45 years (24 ± 40). Both snorers and nonsnorers were assessed for the facial profile type, malocclusion type, and palatal morphology. Chi-square and Student's t-test were used to compare the difference between the two groups. Results: The prevalence of snoring was 16.28%. The most frequent findings among snorer were straight profiles (52.0%), Class I malocclusion (74.7%), and V palatal shape (16.0%), respectively. The Chi-square test revealed a significant difference in terms of V-shaped palatal morphology (P < 0.05); higher neck circumference (NC) (P < 0.007); upper arch length was significantly shorter (P < 0.038); and the inter- first upper premolar distance was significantly narrower (P < 0.013). Conclusion: The null hypothesis is rejected. Snoring in our university population is associated with V-shape palatal morphology, increased NC and decrease in the upper arch length, and inter- first upper premolar distance.

Objectives: The objectives were to evaluate the shear bond strength (SBS) of fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) retainers when bonding them to teeth with and without covering the FRC bars using two different adhesive systems. Materials and Methods: Hundred and twenty extracted human maxillary premolars were randomly divided into eight groups (n = 15). FRC bars (4 mm length, Everstick Ortho^®, Stick Tech, Oy, Turku, Finland) were bonded to the proximal (distal) surfaces of the teeth using two different adhesives (Tetric Flow [TF, Ivoclar Vivadent, Switzerland] and resin-modified glass ionomer cement [RMGIC, ODP, Vista, CA, USA]) with and without covering with the same adhesive. Specimens were exposed to thermocycling (625 cycles per day [5–55°C, intervals: 30 s] for 8 days). The SBS test was then performed using the universal testing machine (Zwick, GMBH, Ulm, Germany). After debonding, the remaining adhesive on the teeth was recorded by the adhesive remnant index (0–3). Results: The lowest mean SBS (standard deviation) was found in the TF group without covering with adhesive (12.6 [2.11] MPa), and the highest bond strength was in the TF group with covering with adhesive (16.01 [1.09] MPa). Overall, the uncovered RMGIC (15.65 [3.57] MPa) provided a higher SBS compared to the uncovered TF. Covering of FRC with TF led to a significant increase in SBS (P = 0.001), but this was not true for RMGIC (P = 0.807). Thermal cycling did not significantly change the SBS values (P = 0.537). Overall, eight groups were statistically different (ANOVA test, F = 3.32, P = 0.034), but no significant differences in bond failure locations were found between the groups (Fisher's exact tests, P = 0.92). Conclusions: The present findings showed no significant differences between SBS of FRC bars with and without covering by RMGIC. However, when using TF, there was a significant difference in SBS measurements between covering and noncovering groups. Therefore, the use of RMGIC without covering FRC bars can be suggested, which can be validated with in vivo studies.

Background and Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether different camera lenses and dental specialties can affect the perception of smile esthetics. Methods: In the first phase of this study, 40 female smile photographs (taken from dental students) were evaluated by six orthodontists, three specialists in restorative dentistry, and three prosthodontists to select the most beautiful smiles. The 20 students with the best smile ranks were again photographed in standard conditions, but this time with two different lenses: Regular and then macro lenses. Each referee evaluated the beauty of the smiles on a visual analog scale. The referees were blinded of the type of lenses, and the images were all coded. The data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U-tests (alpha = 0.05, alpha = 0.0167). Results: The lenses led to similar scores of beauty perception (Mann–Whitney P = 0.8). There was no difference between subjective beauty perception of specialties (Kruskal–Wallis P = 0.6). Two-way ANOVA indicated no significant role for lenses (P = 0.1750), specialties (P = 0.7677), or their interaction (P = 0.7852). Conclusion: The photographs taken by a regular lens and then digitally magnified can be as appealing as close-up photographs taken by a macro lens. Experts in different specialties (orthodontics, prosthodontics, and restorative dentistry) showed similar subjective judgments of smile beauty.