Assessment of periapical root resorption after six months of fixed orthodontic treatment

Objective: the objective of the study was to compare the frequency and amount of root resorption after 6 months of fixed orthodontic treatment in crowding and non-crowding orthodontic patients

Methods: this cross sectional study conducted at the Department of Orthodontics, Alvi Dental Hospital, Karachi. The six month study was conducted from June - December 2008. Sample consists of 60 patients of two groups. Group A comprises of 30 patients of crowding in maxillary anterior teeth and Group B consisted of 30 patients of non crowding cases of maxillary anterior teeth. The data was collected through non probability purposive sampling. In preorthodontic phase [stage I], the apical root resorption was measured as a difference between length of tooth at pretreatment [T1] as compare to stage II [Postorthodontic stage] i.e. length of root six months after the orthodontic treatment [T2]. Subjective scoring of resorption was done from 0-4 with the help of apical root resorption index. Finally the root resorption was compared in between two groups i.e. crowding and non-crowding and data was recorded in a predesigned questionnaire

Results: in crowding group we found 27 [90%] cases with apical root resorption of less than 2mm as compared to non-crowding group, which had 21 [70%] cases. When compared the length of the tooth in stage II the average length was significantly higher in non-crowding group as compared to crowding [p<0.05]. In crowding group we found statistically significant difference in mean decrease length of tooth [mm] at T2 i.e after 6 months compared to mean tooth length [mm] [p<0.05] at T1. We estimated mean decrease of difference in length of T1 and T2 in crowding group compared with noncrowding group [p< 0.05]

Conclusion: there is significant difference [p<0.05] in mean length of tooth root in crowding and noncrowding patients after six months of orthodontic treatment

Best fit prefabricated arch

To determine the best-fit arch wires using the 3M MBT arch wire system Cross-sectional analytical Setting: Orthodontic department, Karachi Medical and Dental College. Best-fit arch wire was determined by superimposing scanned image of the occlusal surface of the patients casts and the three different arch wires [orthoform I, II and III]. Two hundred patients were enrolled. In the maxillary arch, none of the arch wires fits best by both cuspid and maximum number of teeth methods [69% and 81%] [P<.001]. In the mandibular arch, arch wire fits best by cuspid method is Orthoform I [35%] and Orthoform III [53%] according to maximum number of teeth method [P<.001]. It was concluded that when treating Pakistani patients, one should expect to use tapered arch forms in a significant percentage of patients. The current preformed NiTi wires are too wide for many patients and should be modified when these patients are being treated

Position of canine in the maxillary and mandibular arches

To determine the position of canine in the maxillary and mandibular arches. Cross-sectional analytical Setting: Orthodontic department, Karachi Medical and Dental College. The study was completed in 6 months. 200 patients were included in our study out of which females were138. The subjects were selected on non-probable, purposive technique. Inclusion criteria was patients not orthodontically treated previously, having symmetric arches of either sex between 14years and 25years having adult dentition. Patients exhibiting incisal or cuspal attrition, fractures of teeth or ectopically erupted teeth, having mixed dentition, with anomalies of tooth size e.g. micro dontia, macrodontia, peg laterals etc. were excluded. Patients with anomalies of tooth number e.g. hyperdontia, hypodontia were also not included in this study. Position of canine in the arch were determined on the scanned image of the occlusal surface of the patients casts. For both maxillary and mandibular arches, with-in the arch group showed significant values. In our study, the second most frequent position of canine in the maxillary arch was labial [15% of the total sample]. In the mandibular arch the second most position of canine was also labial. [30% of the total sample]. In the maxillary arch, 85% of the casts showed canine with-in the arch [P< .001]. In the mandibular arch, 65% of the casts showed canine with-in the arch [P< .001]. In our study we found the canine with-in the arch in significant number in both maxilla and mandible