Quantitative Measurement of the Adhesive Remnant Index Using Two Different Debonding Techniques: A Split-mouth Randomized Clinical Trial

After informed consent data would be collected from patients who are undergoing debonding of orthodontic brackets after comprehensive orthodontic treatment of at least 2 years. Only the cases which have no loose anterior upper and lower brackets for the last 6 months would be randomly allocated to one of the two sides in each arch for debonding with a specific technique. A protocol of block randomization would be followed for this study. Debonding of brackets would be done either by wing or base method in a split fashion after removal of orthodontic wires. The patient would be explained that both methods are conventional used and are safe for debonding. After debonding each bracket the patient would be asked for the level of pain he felt during the debonding of that specific bracket. The patient will explain the pain level on a scale of 0-10 with 0 referring to no pain while 10 referring to maximum pain. After debonding a digital microscope (Supereyes) would be used along with plastic tubing for taking the adhesive remanent pictures intraorally from the labial surface of teeth. The plastic tubing would have a calibrated scale attached to it. For each new patient, a new tubing or disinfected tubing would be used. The available data would be measured extra orally on a computer-based software (ImageJ). Variable like age, gender, oral hygiene, ARI, side of adhesive flush, and pain would be analyzed.