Before	After

Continuous Use of Power Chains

A 15-year-old man undergoes orthodontic treatment for crowding (Fig.1,9).  By 3 months of treatment (18 ss wires), upper gaps appear, which are corrected by power chains for 5 months (Fig.3).  When wires change to segmental ones (19x25), use of power chain discontinues.  The upper diastemata relapse in the last 3 months of treatment (Fig.2,4).  In fact there are posterior gaps preop (Fig.7).  The use of power chains should be continuous until brackets are removed.  The hidden gaps can be shown by blowing air from a 3-way syringe.  Another way of revealing the diastemata is to take impression prior to debanding.  Hawley appliance can be used to treat post-debanding diastemata.

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Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 04/23/2017, last revision 06/04/2017