Wire products are crucial to the medical industry, yet many are unaware of just how versatile it actually is. Medical wire is found in everything from small tools to finished assemblies. Some of its most common uses are surgical instruments, surgical closures, vascular machines, and orthodontics. Read more to learn about how wire products are effectively used in each of these four applications.
Surgical Instruments:
The most common type of wire used in surgical instruments is stainless steel. Stainless steel is used because surgical instruments need to be strong and resist corrosion from water. Some common instruments that are made with stainless steel wire include dental explorers, needles, periodontal probes, brushes, retrieval forceps, and bone saws.
Surgical Closures:
Surgical closures are typically manufactured with stainless steel 316LVM. 316LVM is used because of its excellent resistance to physiological environments, pitting, general, intergranular, and crevice corrosion. Only buy 316LVM that is vacuum melted to achieve the highest purity and cleanliness required by the medical industry. The 316LVm steel when being used for surgical closures is used as suture or staple wire.
Vascular Machines:
As vascular machines are highly specialized instruments, only the best wire, cable, and strand products should be used. Cable and wire products are used as core wires for extruded tubing and braided or wrapped wires to ensure strength and functionality. Also, wires for vascular machines are used as guidewires for catheters. Depending on the flexibility of vascular products, different strand products are available. The most used strand is two, three, and four-wire twists, but you can get more in some cases.
Orthodontics:
Two types of wires used in orthodontics are arch and ligature wire. Arch wire is the wire that attaches to braces. This wire is critical in the functionality of braces as it helps guide and move teeth. Ligature wire is the wire that allows tying and ligating to be done in orthodontic treatments. The wire provides a secured tie of the arch wire in braces.
While wire products may not seem integral to the medical industry, instruments, closures, vascular machines, orthodontics, and many more applications rely on top-quality wire to operate at high levels. If you are looking for a place to buy high-quality medical wire, choose Loos and Company Medical Technologies Division. We manufacture various types of wire rope that are crucial to the success of medical products. To browse our medical wire options, visit our product page here. Alternatively, if you have any questions, our team is happy to help! Reach out to us by email at sales@loosco.com or by phone at (860) 928-7981.