Abstract
Background
Residual adhesive left on enamel after orthodontic bracket removal can compromise aesthetics and enamel integrity. The Adhesive Remnant Index (ARI) is commonly used to visually assess these residues, but its correlation with true adhesive volume has not been quantitatively validated.
Objective
This study aimed to validate the visual ARI using 3D optical scanning and test the hypothesis of no correlation between ARI scores and adhesive remnant volumes.
Methods
Seventy-five extracted human third molars were bonded with molar tubes using BrackFix Adhesive. After 24 h, tubes were debonded, and ARI scores (0–3) were assessed visually under 6.0× magnification. Residual adhesive was scanned pre- (T0) and post-debonding (T1) using a structured-light 3D scanner (ATOS Compact). Volumes were calculated and analyzed with Kendall's tau correlation.
Results
A strong correlation was found between ARI scores and adhesive remnant volumes (Kendall's τ = 0.649; p < 0.001). Median volumes increased with ARI scores: 0.048 mm3 (score 0), 0.401 mm3 (score 1), 1.025 mm3 (score 2), and 2.893 mm3 (score 3).
Conclusion
Visual ARI scores significantly reflect the actual adhesive remnant volume as quantified by 3D scanning, supporting ARI's clinical validity for assessing residual adhesive after debonding.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
