Tricks of the trade - soldering made easy

Soldering, to join wire components, and the placement of hooks and stops on archwires form an essential part of orthodontic practice (Figure 1). Though easy to perform, heating the wire component to high temperatures for a long duration results in the annealing of wire, which increases the appointment time and leads to frustration on the part of clinician and patient. This article showcases a technique to improve the soldering without annealing the wire component and suggests its application in clinical situations.

As against the norm of using the reducing zone (Figure 2) of the flame (blue zone), it is suggested that the non visible region (Figure 3) of the flame is used to achieve soldering. The blue zone avoids oxidation but the amount of heat generated is too great to achieve soldering without annealing the wire (Figure 4). However, the non visible region provides sufficient heat to achieve soldering.¹