British Journal of Orthodontics

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The Anchorage Bend in the Begg Technique

D. R. Willmot

To cite this article: D. R. Willmot (1983) The Anchorage Bend in the Begg Technique, British
Journal of Orthodontics, 10:3, 128-133, DOI: 10.1179/bjo.10.3.128

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British Journal of Orthodontics/Vol 10/1983/128-133
© 1983 British Society for the Study of Orthodontics

The Anchorage Bend in the

Begg Technique*
D. R.Willmot, B.D.S., F.D.S., D.D.Orth.R.C.P.S. (Giasg.) D.Orth.R.C.S. (Eng.)
Senior Registrar, Orthodontic Department, University College Hospital Dental Hospital, London, WC1

Abstract. The anchorage bend is an essential feature of the Begg technique. The factors which affect the
degree of the anchorage bend include operator preferences as well as certain mechanical features of the case
being treated. A test jig was constructed so as to be able to measure on the bench the intrusive forces developed
by an anchorage bend over the six anterior teeth for a selection of different archwires. The amount offorce
developed was proportional to the degree of anchorage bend and also to the diameter of the archwire. The
jig was modified in order to measure the frictional resistance to distal movement generated by the anchorage
bend. The resistance was found to be greater than the usually quoted forces designed to slide the upper arch-
wire distally. An oval tube was placed on to the test jig and doubled back ar~hwires used. A reduction in
intrusive force for a particular degree of anchorage bend was seen although frictional resistance was not
affected when using doubled back archwires.

The use of anchorage bends is fundamental to the in its deflection through a given distance. In practice
Begg technique. In stage I the anchorage bend is a 0·016 in. archwire delivers the correct force in
used to open the bite and to preserve anchorage. most typical cases.
The most generally accepted rule for gauging
the degree of anchorage bend in stage 1 is to have 2. Distance from anchorage bends to the canines
the anterior section of the arch wire resting passively Some operators advocate the use of 0·018 in.
in the mucogingival sulcus when the archwire archwire when second molars are being used as
is inserted into the buccal tubes. the anchor molars.
Begg and Kesling (1977) stated that it is better
not to think in terms of the number of degrees an 3. Cant of the buccal tubes
anchorage bend should have but to design each Buccal tubes should be placed parallel to the tips
bend to suit the case being treated. Although he of the cusps of the anchor molars. Ten Hoeve
has stated that 30 degrees is usually the correct et al. (1977) have described a technique modifica-
amount of bend to place in a 0·016 in. archwire tion whereby the buccal tubes are angulated on the
Sims (1977) has argued that the anchorage bend molar bands in an attempt to stabilize the molars
must be greater than 30 degrees to be effective whilst achieving improved labial segment intrusion.
and uses bends of 45 degrees in stage 1. Thompson
(1981) uses 45 degree bends in the first stages of 4. Tilt of the molars
his combination bracket techniques. If the molars are tilted mesially less anchor bend
Munday (1969) has described the factors which should be placed in the archwire and vice versa.
affect the degree of anchorage bend and these are If the molars are tilted differentially then different
summarized below. degrees of bend should be placed on each side so
that the anterior section of the archwire lies sym-
1. Diameter of the wire metrically in the sulcus.
The load deflection ratio is proportional to the
fourth power of the diameter of the wire. Thus 5. Curve of the occlusal plane
a change from a 0·016 in. wire to a 0·014 in. wire In cases with a marked curve ofSpee, less anchorage
causes a very marked fall in the force involved bend is needed in the lower arch to provide the
;(;;,sented at the meeting of the B.S.S.O. in Southampton during April
required intrusive force.

128
The Anchorage Bend in the Begg Technique

6. Amount of toe-in or toe-out bends was also examined. The effect of the addi-
Increasing amounts reduce the effectiveness of tion of Class 11 elastics was not investigated.
anchorage bends in the vertical plane.
Intrusive Force Generated by the Anchorage Bend
7. Length and diameter of the buccal tubes
A test jig was constructed to hold buccal tubes
A short tube will result in a smaller force anteriorly in such a position as they would appear in a typical
than a longer tube of the same internal diameter. mouth (Fig. 1). Two 0·036 in. tubes were positioned
The use of a tube larger than the usual 0·036 in. lying along a flat occlusal plane using an archwire
diameter or a flattened tube will result in a drop former which matched a standard archwire.
in the force acting anteriorly. A pointer was added to indicate where the level
of the occlusal plane lay in the anterior region of
8. Axial inclination of the anterior teeth
the archwire. A standard maxillary arch form
The angle at which the incisors are lying affects the was used to form all the archwires used during
force vectors acting to intrude the teeth.
Begg stressed that the use of steep anchorage
bends with heavy archwires will tip the anchor molar tube pointer
molars backwards and depress the anterior teeth
in their sockets hardly at all because the teeth
resist excessive force and do not move rapidly
\ anchorage bend

-c::;=:;::J-...;;/-;;;;...- -
\
over long distances. He advised against extrusion
of the molars. However, McDowell (1967) has
described an initial occlusal movement of the molars
which obliterates the freeway space and causes the gram
molars to remain in virtually constant contact weights
establishing what he terms a pivotal phenomenon
with the molar rotating about a pivotal point in
"'--
the distal root of the molar. He claims that the
great anchorage value seen in lower molars is due
to this phenomenon and to a degree of cuspal
locking with the upper molars.
Fig. 1. A diagrammatic representation of the test jig
Intrusive Force used to measure the forces generated by an anchorage
The forces required to intrude the incisor segments bend.
have been quantified by Ricketts et al. (1979)
and Burstone (1977) and broadly they recommend the tests. The arches were formed by the same opera-
an intrusive force of 200 g to intrude the six upper tor using standard clinical bending procedures
anterior teeth. No clinical measurements appear with light wire pliers. All the archwires were made
to have been made by Begg operators but a recent from TP Special Orange Plus Wire.
study by Thornton and Nikolai (1981) revealed The jig was then used to measure the intrusive
that a typical Begg appliance was generating force generated by a series of different archwires
approximately 40 g over a six-tooth incisor segment. with different degrees of anchorage bend. The
Hocevar (1982) felt that anchorage bends as amount of intrusive force generated by an anchor-
commonly used in the Begg technique were not age bend was measured by suspending some gram
likely to have a significant effect on incisor move- weights in a small weighing pan between the
ment. The amount of intrusive force delivered to ill regions of the archwire. The weights were
the labial segment by the anchorage bend depends added until the anterior region of the archwire
upon the wire size, the effective anchorage bend returned to the level of the pointer, i.e. the flat
size, the anchor bend location and magnitude occlusal plane level. The weight required to do
of any Class 11 elastics. this was taken as the intrusive force being generated
The present study was designed to examine by the archwire. For each reading the angle of the
and quantify the forces delivered by a selection of anchorage bend was measured using a standard
different diameter arch wires with different anchorage geometrical protractor with the wire resting on a
bends sizes in differing locations. The amount of white surface; the bend was always adjusted to
frictional resistance created by these anchorage be equal on both sides. Readings were taken before
D. R. Willmot

selection of archwires of different diameter. It can

be seen that a .typical 30 degree anchorage bend
in a 0·016 in. archwire develops an intrusive force
of about 45 g. The amount of intrusive force
generated increases in a uniform manner as the
150 0·020.. anchorage bend is increased. With a 30 degree
anchorage bend a 0·014 in. archwire produces about
intru ive 28 g of intrusive force; a 0·018 in. archwire pro-
force {grams) duces a 90 g force and a 0·020 in. archwire would
produce a 130 g force. It should be noted that the
100 experimental plots do not go through the origin
but intersect the x-axis at about 5 degrees. This is
probably due to the play of the wire in the molar
tubes.
Thus the use of large anchorage bends in the
thicker wires might be expected to produce clinical-
50 ly disastrous results with backward tipping of the
molars and probably little depression of the anterior
teeth. The amount of intrusive force produced
by an anchorage bend of around 10 degrees with
any of the different diameters of wire was of the
same order of magnitude and would probably
10 20 30 40 50 60 be just sufficient to maintain an already reduced
anchorage bend " overbite with any of the thiQJcnesses of wire in
stages 2 and 3.
Fig. 2. A graph showing the relationship of intrusive The effect on intrusive force of varying the posi-
force plotted against the degree of anchorage bend for a
tion of the anchorage bend was investigated by
selection of archwires of different diameter.
placing a 0·016 in. archwire in the test jig and meas-
uring the intrusive force generated by a 30 degree
and after adding of the gram weights to check anchorage placed at 1 mm intervals between
that distortion had not occurred. The position of 0 and 7 mm from the mesial aspect of the buccal
the anchor bend was standardized at 3 mm in tube. The results appear in the graph in Figure 3.
front of the buccal tube for these tests.
Figure 2 is a graph derived from these results Frictional Resistance
showing the relationship of intrusive force when The use of anchorage bends inevitably introduces
plotted against degree of anchorage bend for a a frictional component if it is desired that the

intrusive 40
force
30
(gm) 20

10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

position of anchor bend

in front of tube (mm)
Fig. 3. A graph showing the effect on intrusive force of variation of the position of the anchorage bend in front of the
molar tube for a typical 0·016 in. archwire.

130
The Anchorage Bend in the Begg Technique

archwire should slide through the buccal tube as to overcome the resistance of different degrees
is the situation in the classical Begg technique. of anchorage bend resting in the buccal tubes.
Little information appears in the literature. Five readings were made of the frictional resis-
Nicolls (1968) attempted to measure the fric- tance created by each anchorage bend and the mean
tional resistance developed in fixed orthodontic calculated. The results appear in the graphs in
appliances. He measured the forces required to Figure 4. It can be seen that for a 0·016 in, archwire
pull wire through brackets and tubes at different with a 30 degree anchorage bend it is necessary
angles and he showed increasing frictional resis- to overcome a frictional resistance of about 85 g
tance at increasing angles. before the archwire will move distally. It is also
Using the previously described test jig it was apparent there is a uniform relationship between
found possible to apply a distally directed force the amount of anchorage bend and the amount
to the archwires under test when the archwires of frictional resistance generated in the buccal
were placed in the jig with sufficient gram weights tube. The amount of frictional resistance was
to flatten the wire to the pointer representing the also measured for a number of samples of different
flat occlusal plane. The distal force was exerted wire diameters. The frictional resistance rises
using a Correx spring measuring gauge attached very rapidly with the thicker archwires.
to hooks which were in turn attached. to the trac- Nicolls (1968) suggested that burnishing the
tion hooks in the ill region of the archwire. entry and exit edges of buccal tubes would reduce
The force was along the occlusal plane in all frictional resistance. This was carried out on the
measurements. tubes on the test jig but no significant difference
Recordings were made of the force required was found between results either burnished or
unburnished on a number of test archwires.

1 Use of Oval Tubes

Begg and others have advised the use of oval tubes
and doubled back archwires in cases where im-
200 proved molar control is required such as first
permanent molar extraction cases. He stated
that properly constructed doubled back archwires
do not increase frictional resistance (Begg 1963).
It was decided to compare the frictional resistance
150

frictio al
resist nee
(gm)
100
100
intr sive
for e
(gm)

50
50

10 20
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 anchorage bend
0
anchorage bend
Fig. 5. A graph showing the amount of intrusive force
Fig. 4. A graph showing the frictional resistance obtained when using a 0·016 In. doubled back archwlre
generated by different anchorage bends for a selection in an oval tube compared with a 0·016 in. plain archwire
of archwires of different diameter. in a 0·036 in. round tube.

131
D. R. Willmot

of oval tubes with round tubes by the use of the 0·016 in. wire in a plain tube. It was found however
test jig. that great care was necessary in the construction of
Figure 5 shows the intrusive force obtained the doubled back bend and erratic results were
when using a 0·016 in. doubled back archwire in seen if the double back was too wide and caused
an oval tube compared with a 0·016 in. plain binding within the oval tube.
archwire in a 0·036 in. round tube. The doubled
back archwire showed that it consistently produces Discussion
20 g less intrusive force presumably because of The results show that the archwire was acting as a
the extra flexibility introduced by the doubling cantilevered beam before its elastic limit was reached.
back. It would seem that in order to produce the The amount of intrusive force generated was
same intrusive force as a 30 degree bend in a plain directly proportional to the degree of anchorage
0·016 in. archwire a doubled back archwire should bend. The anchorage bend location was of lesser
be bent at 40 degrees. importance in influencing the amount of intrusive
force available although the further away the bend
was located from the buccal tube the less the amount
of available intrusive force. This means that during
treatment the intrusive force developed by an
anchorage bend increases as the retraction of the
upper arch proceeds and the anchor bend moves
in rusive nearer to the buccal tube.
to ce
0·016• doubled The actual intrusive force developed by a typical
100 (gm) back arch
30-40 degree anchorage bend was of the order of
45-65 g and this is likely to be reduced somewhat
by the addition of Class 11 mochanics. This figure
falls short of the 200 g estimated by Ricketts and
Burstone to be necessary to intrude upper incisors
with edgewise appliances. Ten Hoeve et al. (1977)
50
have drawn attention to the fact that satisfactory
adjusting loop
intrusion occurs only if the alveolar cortical plates
are avoided by the incisor roots. The free tipping
Begg brackets may be of importance in this respect.
The frictional resistance developed by the anchor-
age bend was high, a typical 30 degree bend re-
10 20 30 40
0
50 60 quiring a force of 85 g to overcome resistance and
anchorage bend a 45 degree bend used by many operators would
Fig. 6. A graph showing the amount of intrusive force require a massive 135 g to move the archwire
generated by a 0·016 in. doubled back archwire with an distally through the tubes. The force available to
adjusting loop compared with a routine 0·016 in. doubled move the archwire comes from light Class 11
back archwire. elastics and it is generally recommended that these
elastics exert a force of 60 g. Other forces must
Begg advised the placing of adjusting loops therefore be at work since clinically in the upper
mesial to the anchor bends which are closed up jaw _the archwire does slide distally through the
as treatment procedes and allows the anchor bend tube allowing space closure and overjet reduction
to be moved forwards. Adjusting loops were to take place during stage I. Nicholls (1968) has
placed in the test archwire and the amount of suggested that frictional resistance may be overcome
intrusive force measured. Figure 6 shows the results to some extent by the lubricating effect of saliva
compared with a doubled back archwire without which was not present during the bench tests.
adjusting loops. It seems that these loops can reduce Mandibular movements during eating and speaking
the intrusive force. An alternative method of moving stretch the Class 11 elastics generating higher
the doubled back bend forwards is to anneal the intermittent forces. Clinical observation of the
loop in a flame and roll it forwards. occasional case where elastics have not been worn
With regard to frictional resistance the values suggests that a degree of overjet reduction, and
obtained with a test doubled back archwire were sliding of the arch distally occurs. This may be
very similar to those obtained with a single round due to occlusal forces from the opposing arch

132
The Anchorage Bend in the Begg Technique

biting on to the anchorage bend and causing the Burstone, C. R. (1977)

Deep overbite correction by intrusion,
archwire to creep distally through the tube. American Journal of Orthodontics, 72, 1-22.

Summary Hocevar, R. A. (1982)

Orthodontic force systems: technical refinements for increased
I. Anchor bends are capable of producing a efficiency,
American Journal of Orthodontics, 81, 1-11.
light continuous intrusive force to the incisors.
2. This force is affected by the wire size, anchorage Munday, M. J. (1969)
bend size and to a lesser extent by the location An analysis of arch wire,
Begg Journal of Orthodontic Theory and Treatment, S, 57-70.
of the anchorage bend.
3. The anchorage bend introduces a frictional McDowell, C. S. (1967)
The hidden force,
component into the archwire which is greater in Angle Orthodontist, 37, 109-131.
magnitude than the usually quoted prime
moving force. Nicholls, J. (1968)
Frictional forces in liKed orthodontic appliances,
4. The frictional resistance of an anchorage bend Dental Practitioner and Dental Record, 18, 362-366.
is directly proportional to the degree of that Sims, M. R. (1977)
Conceptual orthodontics,
bend. American Journal of Orthodontics, 11, 431-439.
5. The use of a doubled back archwire in an oval
tube introduces further flexibility into the arch- Ricketts, R. M., Bench, R. W., Gugino, G. F., Hilgers, J. J. and
Schulhof, R. J. (1979)
wire and slightly reduces the intrusive force Bioprogressive therapy,
generated. Denver: Rocky Mountain Orthodontics.
6. The use of doubled back archwires does not Ten Hoeve, A., Mulle, M. R. and Brandt, S. (1977)
increase their frictional resistance if carefully Technique modifications to achieve intrusion of the maKillary
constructed. anterior segment,
Journal of Clinical Orthodontics, 11, 174-198.

References Thompson, W. J. (1981)

Begg and straight wire: a combination approach to treatment,
Begg, P. R. (1963)
American Journal of Orthodontics, 19, 591-609.
Questions and answers,
BeggJournal ofOrthodontic Theory and Treatment 2, 31-35.
Thornton, C. B. and Nikolai, R. J, (1981)
Begg, P. R. and Kesling, P.C. (1977) Maxillary anterior intrusive forces generated by Begg stage
Begg orthodontic theory and technique, I appliances,
Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders and Company. American Journal of Orthodontics, 79, 610-624.

133