Clear Aligners: Between Evolution and Efficiency—A Scoping Review

Alessandra Putrino, Ersilia Barbato and Gabriella Galluccio
Additional contact information
Alessandra Putrino: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy
Ersilia Barbato: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy
Gabriella Galluccio: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: In recent years, clear aligners have diversified and evolved in their primary characteristics (material, gingival margin design, attachments, divots, auxiliaries), increasing their indications and efficiency. We overviewed the brands of aligners used in Italy and reviewed the literature on the evolution of clear aligners based on their characteristics mentioned above by consulting the main scientific databases (PubMed, Scopus, Lilacs, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library). Inclusion and exclusion criteria were established. The data were collected on a purpose-made data collection form and analyzed descriptively. From the initial 580 records, 527 were excluded because they were not related to the subject of the review or because they did not meet the eligibility criteria. The remaining 31 studies were deemed comprehensive for the purpose of the review, although the “gingival margin design” feature and “auxiliaries” tool are not well represented in the more recent literature. Current knowledge on invisible aligners allows us to have a much clearer idea of the basic characteristics of aligner systems. There remains a need to deepen the use of systems other than Invisalign™ to give greater evidence to aligners that are very different based on the characteristics analyzed here and that are very widespread on the market.

Keywords: clear aligners; orthodontics; biomechanics; efficiency; efficacy; attachments; divots; auxiliaries; mini-screws; elastics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2870/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2870/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:6:p:2870-:d:515008

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().