Tricks of the trade – improved alginate tags: soldering made easy

Soldering is an important routine procedure in orthodontic practice. Stabilization of various wire components during soldering is very important for perfect fitting of an appliance. Usually dental plaster or sticky wax is used to stabilize wire components during soldering. The problem with wax is that it melts and dislodges the wire component during soldering. Although this problem can be solved with dental plaster, there is the possibility of distortion of wire components while the plaster is being removed after soldering.

The authors recommend the use of ‘alginate tags’ to stabilize the wire components. There is no distortion of the alginate tags during the soldering procedure and they are easy to remove and show no distortion of the wire components.

Figures 1–3 show the use of alginate tags for the stabilization of wire components of the lingual arch and Figures 4 and 5 show the use of the tags with a Hawley's appliance.