Contemporary Esthetic Orthodontic Archwires – A Review

Growing demand of invisible braces by esthetically conscious patients has led to remarkable inventions in materials for esthetic labial archwires. Archwires with excellent optical clarity and mechanical properties comparable to conventional archwires have been manufactured by almost all the leading companies of orthodontic products in the past two decades, but their clinical use is still limited. Esthetic archwires can be divided into two main types, which are transparent non-metallic archwires (composite wires) and metallic wires with esthetic coatings. This article intends to provide an overview of various types of esthetic archwires available, and to gather evidence from the literature regarding their clinical applicability.