Evaluation of external apical root resorption caused by fixed functional treatment of class II malocclusion : Cast splint Herbst appliance vs. Forsus fatigue resistant device

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of class II fixed functional treatment with a cast splint Herbst appliance (HA; Herbst Set I, Dentaurum, Ispringen, Germany) and Forsus fatigue resistant device (FRD; 3M Unitek Corp., Monrovia, CA, USA) on external apical root resorption (EARR) in posterior teeth.

METHODS

In all, 40 patients (15 male and 25 female) with class II division 1 malocclusion were treated with two fixed functional appliances: HA (20 patients, mean age 14.60 ± 1.14 years) and FRD (20 patients, mean age 14.15 ± 1.28 years). The vestibular lengths of the first molars and premolars were measured on panoramic radiographs and converted to actual tooth length using the magnification coefficient (MC), which was calculated using dental models. Intragroup comparisons of pre- and posttreatment tooth lengths were performed with the paired t‑test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test, while intergroup comparisons were performed with the Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

Pretreatment tooth length values decreased significantly with HA and FRD therapies for all posterior teeth. The maximum resorption was observed in the mandibular first premolar with a mean of 0.81 mm following HA and 1.55 mm following FRD treatment. While no significant difference existed between the EARR values of the HA and FRD groups for maxillary teeth, the amount of EARR of mandibular posterior teeth in the FRD group was significantly higher than in the HA group.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients treated with HA or FRD, the tooth length of posterior teeth decreased to a clinically minor but statistically significant degree. The root resorption effect of FRD therapy in mandibular posterior teeth was significantly higher than that of HA therapy.

A pilot study of the metabolomic profiles of saliva from female orthodontic patients with external apical root resorption

BACKGROUND

Orthodontically induced external apical root resorption (OIEARR) is one of the most severe complications of orthodontic treatment, which is hard to diagnose at early stage by merely radiographic examination. This study aimed to identify salivary metabolic products using unbiased metabolic profiling in order to discover biomarkers that may indicate OIEARR.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Unstimulated saliva samples were analyzed from 19 healthy orthodontic patients with EARR (n=8) and non-EARR (n=11). Metabolite profiling was performed using ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

RESULTS

A total of 187 metabolites were found in saliva samples. With supervised partial least squares discriminant analysis and regression analysis, samples from 2 groups were well separated, attributed by a series of metabolites of interest, including butyrate, propane-1,2-diol, α-linolenic acid (Ala), α-glucose, urea, fumarate, formate, guanosine, purine, etc. Indicating the increased inflammatory responses in the periodontal tissues possibly associated with energy metabolism and oxidative stress.

CONCLUSIONS

The effective separation capacity of ¹H NMR based metabolomics suggested potential feasibility of clinical application in monitoring periodontal and apical condition in orthodontic patients during treatment and make early diagnosis of OIEARR. Metabolites detected in this study need further validation to identify exact biomarkers of OIEARR. Saliva biomarkers may assist in diagnosis and monitoring of this disease.