Summary of findings 4. Conventional nickel‐titanium (NiTi) versus thermoelastic NiTi arch wires.
| Conventional NiTi versus thermoelastic NiTi arch wires | ||||||
|
Population: people receiving orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances
Settings: university clinics, faculty practices and private practices
Intervention: thermoelastic NiTi Control: conventional NiTi | ||||||
| Outcomes | Illustrative comparative risks* (95% CI) | Relative effect (95% CI) | Number of participants (studies) | Quality of the evidence (GRADE) | Comments | |
| Assumed risk | Corresponding risk | |||||
| Control | Thermoelastic NiTi | |||||
| Alignment rate ratio (hazard ratio of Kaplan‐Meier survival estimates) Follow‐up: 6 months | Alignment rate ratio (thermoelastic: conventional) was 1.3 (0.68 to 2.50) |
HR 1.3 (0.68 to 2.50) |
60 (1 study) |
⊕⊕⊝⊝ low1 | Abdelrahman 2015a also reported no statistically significant difference of alignment rate over 8 or 16 weeks. | |
| Time to alignment Follow‐up: 16 weeks | Mean time to alignment in the control groups was 9.8 weeks | Mean time to alignment in the intervention groups was 0.2 shorter (1.64 shorter to 1.24 longer) | 49 (1 study) | ⊕⊕⊝⊝ low1 | ||
| Pain | Not measured | |||||
| Root resorption | Not measured | |||||
| *The basis for the assumed risk (e.g. the median control group risk across studies) is provided in footnotes. The corresponding risk (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI). CI: confidence interval; HR: hazard ratio; NiTi: nickel‐titanium | ||||||
| GRADE Working Group grades of evidence High quality: we are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect. Moderate quality: we are moderately confident in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. Low quality: our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect. Very low quality: we have very little confidence in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect. | ||||||
1Downgraded two levels due to very serious imprecision.