title: Systematic review on self-ligating vs. conventional brackets: initial pain, number of visits, treatment time.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Meta-analysis of differences between conventional and self-ligating brackets concerning pain during tooth movement, number of patient visits, total treatment duration, and ligation times.
  
  
  METHODS
  Online search in Medline, Embase, and Central focused on randomized clinical trials and controlled clinical studies published between 1996 and 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four studies on pain met our inclusion criteria, two on the number of appointments, two on overall treatment time but none on ligation times. Pain levels did not differ significantly between patients treated with conventional or self-ligating brackets after 4 h, 24 h, 3 and 7 days. The number of appointments and total treatment times revealed no significant differences between self-ligating and conventional brackets.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lack of significant overall effects apparent in this meta-analysis contradicts evidence-based statements on the advantages of self-ligating brackets over conventional ones regarding discomfort during initial orthodontic therapy, number of appointments, and total treatment time. Due to the limited number of studies included, further randomized controlled clinical trials are required to deliver more data and to substantiate evidence-based conclusions on differences between the two bracket types considering orthodontic pain, number of visits, treatment, and ligation times.
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthodontics, Bernhard Gottlieb University Clinic of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. ales.celar@meduniwien.ac.at
authors.forename: Ales
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Čelar
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schedlberger
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dörfler
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertl
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008026:Ligation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D016910:Orthodontic Brackets / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D014087:Tooth Movement Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016896:Treatment Outcome