Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2019-2020).

As Canadians continue to place added significance on their oral health, research in this area has becomex000D
increasingly important. One key area of interest is orthodontic treatment. In orthodontic treatment using braces,x000D
the archwire is the key element that delivers loads to teeth through brackets which are attached to the tooth. Asx000D
such, research into the biomechanics of archwires is imperative in the understanding of how applied loadsx000D
effect tooth movement throughout treatment. Smarter Alloys Inc. has developed a process by which they alterx000D
the local material characteristics of nickel-titanium based shape memory alloy (SMA) archwires. This allowsx000D
clinicians the option of variable stiffness around an archwire, thereby facilitating tooth movement in certainx000D
regions while preventing it in others. The Orthodontic Biomechanics Testing and Development Group at thex000D
University of Alberta has a suite of experimental simulation equipment to study the biomechanics ofx000D
orthodontic appliances. They allow for the study of rotational mechanics between a single bracket andx000D
archwire, the friction between a bracket and archwire as they slide relative to one another, and the propagationx000D
of loads around the arch. These pieces of equipment will be utilized to measure the loads generated byx000D
processed archwires using Smarter Alloys techniques as well as conventional SMA archwires. Experimentalx000D
findings will elucidate how processing of SMA archwires influences their interactions with brackets and howx000D
these processed archwires compare to those typically used in orthodontic treatment. This work will providex000D
Smarter Alloys with valuable information allowing for the improvement of their product as well asx000D
significantly contribute to the study of orthodontic biomechanics on the whole.