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2/13, Madhav Nagar, Next to Andheri Bus Depot, Andheri West Innovations
- 1. A New Appliance – U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,187 and Indian Pat. No. 175269
- 2. Self-locking Bracket – U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,923 and Indian Pat. No. 201981
- 3. Toothbrush with Camera - U.S. Pat. No. US 8,938,838 B2 and Indian Pat. No. 318260
Our Patents
Certificates and Awards
Clinical Innovations
1. Multi-Purpose Attachments (MPA)
In many clinical situations, bonding or banding a bracket onto a tooth becomes difficult for the orthodontist, or it may be uncomfortable for the patient due to occlusal interference or trauma to the oral tissues.
Crowded or rotated teeth are good examples of such difficult situations where bonding a bracket would be difficult due to the lack of enough bonding space on the tooth. Bonding would also be difficult on teeth with short clinical crowns and peg-shaped teeth.
At times, only the occlusal surface of a tooth is exposed, and the tooth has to be extruded and brought into occlusion. Bonding a bracket onto the occlusal surface would cause occlusal interference before the tooth can erupt fully.
In deep bite, crossbite, and scissors bite cases where bonding brackets onto the lower teeth would dis-occlude the posterior teeth, the patient cannot chew food, which would be quite uncomfortable. Also, the chances of debonding would be very high because the bracket or brackets would bear the brunt of masticatory forces.
In deep bite cases, bonding a bracket or a lingual button on the palatal surface of an upper canine can interfere with the lower canines.
Bonding a bracket onto a surgically exposed tooth may cause tissue irritation and ulceration particularly with high buccally placed impacted canines.
Bonding a tube on the buccal surface of an impacted second molar may be difficult if the buccal surface is not exposed sufficiently, or if a tube can be bonded. There may be occlusal interference and injury to the buccal mucosa due to mastication and impingement.
At our clinic, we have been using an attachment that can be used in all the different conditions described earlier. It is very useful in difficult situations.
A number of journal articles have been published. Hundreds of Orthodontists world over have used this attachment and are still using it. MPA has been included in two books.
1. Orthodontic Pearls - A Clinician’s Guide by Dr. Larry W. White, DDS, MSD
2. Atlas of Comprehensive Orthodontics Vol.II by Dr. K. Sadashiv Shetty, Deepthi Shiri Amanna, Mohd Zoheb
MPA has been included in two books
- Orthodontic Pearls - A Clinician’s Guide by Dr. Larry W. White, DDS, MSD
- Atlas of Comprehensive Orthodontics Vol.II by Dr. K. Sadashiv Shetty, Deepthi Shiri Amanna, Mohd Zoheb
The Advantages of MPA
- It is easier to bond an MPA in places where it is difficult to bond a bracket.
- It causes minimal occlusal interference.
- It causes minimal trauma to the oral tissues since it is thin.
- It helps in reducing treatment time as it can be bonded earlier than a regular bracket where bonding a regular bracket in correct position is difficult or uncomfortable for the patient.
- It can be used in different clinical situations.
- It can be used as labial and lingual appliance with 2-D control.
- It can be used in making permanent Bonded retainers.
Award & Recognition
Tracom Award for Innovation in Clinical Orthodontics at the 36th IOC in 2001 for the pioneering invention of “The Multi-Purpose Attachment (MPA),” a milestone in orthodontic practice that has had a lasting impact on the field.
Journal Article Links
- J. Ind. Orthod. Soc. 26: 113-115, 1995.
- Vashi Bhuma N. & Vashi Nikhil S.: “A Multipurpose Attachment (MPA).” J. Ind. Orthod. Soc. 35: 89-93, 2002.
- Vashi, Nikhil and Vashi, Bhuma: Multi-Purpose Attachment for Direct-Bonded Lingual Retainers, J. Clin. Orthod. 44:550-551, 2010.
- Vashi, Nikhil and Vashi, Bhuma: Eruption and Alignment of Impacted Teeth with Multi-Purpose Attachments, J. Clin. Orthod. 46:486-490, 2012.
You can also visit, Braces Ideas for more information.
If you are interested in placing an order for the product, you can click on following order links for Braces Ideas (Clinical Innovations), depending on where you are located.
2. The Universal Ribbon-Arch Appliance
The Universal Ribbon-Arch Appliance (URA) was invented with the intention of having an appliance system that was truly “Doctor-Driven.” It is a pre-adjusted appliance with the main arch-wire slot in Ribbon-Arch mode. All the existing fixed appliances have inherent limitations due to their designs. The URA combines the advantages of the Pre-adjusted Edgewise Appliance and the Begg Appliance and eliminates their drawbacks.
The bracket of the URA allows free tipping, controlled tipping and translation of teeth as desired by the orthodontist. It provides 3-dimensional control for proper finishing and detailing of the occlusion at the end of the treatment. A tooth can be tipped or moved bodily at any time during treatment by changing the mode of engagement of the arch-wire to the bracket slot.
Advantages of URA
- Free and restricted tipping (M - D & L - L)
- Controlled tipping and translation of teeth
- Rapid differential movements with light forces
- Self-limiting tooth movements
- Better anchorage control intra-orally.
- Precise finishing with 3-D control with rectangular arch-wires
- Minimal patient co-operation
Award & Recognition
P.P. Jacob Award for the Best Article in J.I.O.S. in 1995 at the 31st IOC & 1st International Congress in 1997 for the highly acclaimed invention of “The Universal Ribbon-Arch Appliance (URA).” This innovative appliance significantly improved orthodontic treatment outcomes.
Tracom Award for Innovation in Clinical Orthodontics at the 30th IOC in 1995 for the invention of “The Universal Ribbon-Arch Appliance,” a versatile and game-changing device in orthodontics.
Journal Article Link
New Methods of Ligation
3. Continuous Wrap-around Tie
In clinical practice, continuous ties play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of dental arches and preventing unwanted gaps from forming. These ties can be applied to either secure an entire dental arch or focus on a specific segment of teeth. Typically, practitioners have the option of using either a twisted tie or a figure-of-eight tie for this purpose.
It’s worth noting that while a twisted tie demands more time during the application process compared to a figure-of-eight tie, each method comes with its own set of advantages and drawbacks. For instance, the figure-of-eight tie, despite its quicker application, can pose challenges. One potential issue is that it may not fully secure the archwire within the bracket’s slot, potentially allowing for tooth rotation, especially if the tooth was initially misaligned.
A new way of tying an arch wire has been developed by Dr. Nikhil Vashi called “Continuous Wrap-around Tie (CWT)” not only meets the objective of maintaining adjacent teeth in contact, it also prevents relapse of rotation corrections, corrects minor rotations and saves time in ligating and removing an arch wire. The continuous wrap-around tie can be given around twin edgewise brackets as well as around single brackets.
The Advantages of CWT:
- Better Rotation control
- Slot filling for better Torque control
- Clinical Time Reduction
- Prevention of Space opening
- Better Oral Hygiene
Journal Article Link
4. Friction-Free Tie (FFT)
Friction is an integral part of orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances. Sliding of arch wires through bracket slots and sliding of brackets over arch wires generates friction. Various factors like bracket and wire materials, bracket and wire configurations, surface characteristics of the wires and bracket slots contribute to variations in friction. In addition to the archwires and the brackets, the means and the methods of ligation also contribute to friction, causing resistance to tooth movements.
The new method of ligation developed by Dr. Nikhil Vashi reduces the friction between the wires and the ligature ties, thus allowing the teeth to align faster, space closure with lower forces and less pain for the patients.
The Advantages of FFT:
- Used with any edgewise brackets
- Low profile brackets
- Can be used at any given stage of treatment
- Lighter forces
- Less pain
- Reduced treatment time
- Less patient visits
- Very economical
- No locking mechanism failure
- Possible to seat the arch wire fully into the slot with a Continuous Wrap-around Tie
- Possible to engage an arch wire selectively in friction-free and fully seated mode with single CFFT and CWT combined together.
Award & Recognition
Received Award for Best Paper in Clinical Innovation category in Indian Orthodontic Conference, Nagpur 2008.
5. Buccal Expander - An Alternate Method of Expansion
A number of devices are available for the expansion of the dental arches. Most of them are placed on the palatal aspect for the expansion of the maxillary arch. Sometimes, some patients are not able to tolerate any appliance on the palate. Also, in patients with cleft lip and palate, the maxillary arches are very much contracted transversely as well as anterior-posteriorly.
In such cases, it is very challenging to expand the maxillary arch using palatal expanders. A buccal expander is very useful in such conditions for achieving the desired expansion in transverse and A-P dimensions.
The Advantages of Buccal Expander:
- Easy to fabricate
- Easy manipulation
- Selective expansion
- Adjustable
- Comfortable
- Economical
6. An Alternate Method of Preparing Indirect Bonding Trays
Indirect bonding has become more popular as it helps in precise positioning of orthodontic brackets and reduces clinical time needed for bonding. Usually either a bio-star/vacuum former or rubber based impression material is used for making transfer trays.
With the new method developed by Dr. Nikhil Vashi one can use Impression Compound and Glue Sticks to make indirect bonding trays. This takes minimum time to prepare and is the most effective, efficient and economical method.
The Advantages of Indirect Bonding Trays:
- Easy to prepare
- Minimum preparation Time
- Easily available
- Re-usable
- Inexpensive
- Individual tooth / group of teeth
Journal Article Link
7. Removable Trans-Palatal Arches & Lower Lingual Arches
Trans-Palatal Arches (TPA) & Lower Lingual Arches (LLA) are routinely used by orthodontists to reinforce anchorage and to control and to correct molars. With the fixed type of TPA & LLA it becomes difficult to correct rotations of the molars, upright the molars bucco-lingually, expand or contract the molars to correct cross bites etc. These movements are possible with removable TPA & LLA as these can be removed, activated and re-fixed in a very short time.
Dr. Nikhil Vashi has discussed various activations and modifications of removable TPA & LLA to treat different clinical situations with professional colleagues in many scientific meetings and conferences.
The Advantages of removable TPA & LLA:
- Reinforce anchorage
- Correct cross bites
- Maintain expansion & arch length
- Correct rotations
- Upright molars labio-lingually
- Restrict molar eruption (TPA)
Journal Article Link
8. Dis-impaction with Various Springs
At times, aligning impacted teeth can be challenging due to their positions. It is important to plan mechanical force systems that help in aligning the teeth efficiently and effectively.
Dr. Nikhil Vashi has designed a number of different springs to align impacted teeth.
9. “V” Distalizer
“V” Distalizer is a molar distalizing appliance. It is a palatally placed appliance with a tube and a distalizing arm on either side, for distalizing the molars with open coil springs.
The Advantages of “V” Distalizer:
- allows true translation
- efficient anchorage control
- minimum clinical adjustments
- no re-fixing during treatment
- no special components
- easy to fabricate
- patient comfort
- minimum patient compliance
10. AP correction splints
AP correction splints comprise maxillary and mandibular splints and have been used for the correction of developing Cl II and Cl III malocclusions. Encouraging results were seen in these cases.
The Advantages of AP correction splints:
- full time wear
- easy to fabricate
- no bite registration
- intra-oral
- comfortable for patient
- speech not affected
At The Braces Point, your smile is our top priority. Let us help you achieve optimal oral health and a picture-perfect smile. Contact us today and experience the difference that exceptional dental care can make in your life.
