Near-alpha titanium — a potentially new orthodontic archwire material

High tensile stainless steels and Elgiloy (a) have been until recently the dominant orthodontic archwire materials. The introduction of Nitinol (b) and T.M.A. (c) has extended the choice. In the present work a new wire near-alpha titanium has been studied. Its tensile properties have been found to be similar to gold, whilst its elastic deflection (springback) is comparable to high tensile stainless steel. It has been shaped into representative Edgewise and Begg archwires to which tipback bends were added, and in so doing has brought “Variable Modulus Orthodontics” much closer to practical reality.