Screws Screw appliances consist of two parts connected by a

screw which has left- and right handed threads at opposite ends,
the centre
of the screw being formed into a boss or
plain section which is perforated so that the
screw can be turned by means of a pin or
wrench. In this way the two parts of the
appliance are separated and when placed in
the dental arch produce a pressure on the
teeth which is accommodated by the slight
natural mobility that occurs in teeth (Fig.
1.3). In this way teeth are immediately
moved or wedged apart by very small amounts and in the days
subsequent to the
placing of the appliance, remodelling of the
surrounding bone tissues takes place. Subsequent
further screw adjustments are made
to build up a total degree of movement such
as may be required by the treatment plan.

Screws
The doyen of screw devices was the Badcock screw which was a
screw threaded into a tubular housing. The screw at its free end
had a short collar which revolved on the head of the screw when
rotated by means of a key or wrench, the two parts of the
appliance in which the screw was embedded separated and
pressed against the teeth to which the appliance was clasped. e
parts of the appliance are separated, the only way in which the
appHance can then be placed on the dental arch is by pressing
the teeth slightly apart due to the fact that the periodontal
support allows this to happen.
The movement of the teeth that takes place is due first of all to
the fact that the periodontal membrane slings the tooth in the
alveolar process and the membrane is compressed on one side
and placed under tension on the other side. There is probably
also a slight amount of flexibility in the cementum and the
adjoining alveolar bone. The effect is that these elastic tissues
store the pressure produced by the slight movement of the teeth.
Teeth moved in this way must be allowed a period during which
bone remodelling can take place and, as bone remodels, slight
additional movements are carried out by adjustment of the plate
until the desired complete amount of movement has been
achieved.
Screws are sometimes used as a means of expanding the entire
dental arch. It is, however, possible by means of suitable design
of the baseplate to move quite small groups of teeth when
required. This development has been due mainly to the
manufacture of smaller sizes of screws. A further refinement is
that modern screws are double-ended
with left- and right-hand threads at opposite ends so that, as the
screw rotates, the nuts or collars into which the threaded ends
are placed move apart in equal and opposite directions. Today
there are many types of screws being manufactured and these
offer various possibilities for the reciprocal movement of
segments of baseplate appliances {Fig. 2.6). Some screws have
coil springs