RESUMEN
Association between fixed orthodontic therapy and enamel decalcification causing periodontal disease and enamel decalcification is a known problem of orthodontic treatment. The root cause of this is the fact that brackets provide an ideal environment for bacteria to accumulate and multiply. Hence modifying the surface of brackets with some photocatalytic antibacterial substance could help in prevention of this side-effect. The current study was thus planned to evaluate the anti-adherence of bacteria to photocatalytic silver coated brackets for the prevention of white spot lesions. METHODSAfter obtaining ethical clearance from the institutional ethics committee, 40 metal brackets of upper central incisor were taken. These brackets were divided into group 1 & group 2 each containing twenty brackets. Group 1 (control group) consisted of plain metal brackets while group 2 (experimental group) consisted of silver coated brackets. Both the groups were subjected to laboratory bacterial tests to assess the bacterial adhesion to brackets and then statistical analysis was done to obtain results. RESULTSSilver modified brackets showed around 25 % less adhesion of bacteria as compared with plain brackets. CONCLUSIONSModifying orthodontic brackets by coating them with photocatalytic silver could prove to be an innovative and effective method in prevention of white spot lesions after fixed orthodontic therapy.
RESUMEN
Diagnosis and treatment planning in skeletal discrepancy and disorders requires radiographic assessment. Disturbance in growth and development alters the morphologic build-up of bony structures, which makes evaluation difficult. Out of these skeletal landmarks Point ANS is seen affected in many conditions like cleft lip and palate, Binders Syndrome, Down’s Syndrome, nasomaxillary hypoplasia, etc., wherein maxilla is mostly affected. Surgical intervention if required needs exact evaluation of point ANS. The purpose of the present study is thus to revisit Point ANS to aid in the cephalometric evaluation in cases where location of Point ANS is difficult; thus, making treatment planning easy. METHODS50 lateral cephalograms were evaluated by taking reference of skeletal landmarks and linear measurements were done. RESULTSLinear measurements from Point Ptm’-Ba’, Ba’-ANS’, ANS’-A were found to be proportionally equal with a ratio of 1:1:1. CONCLUSIONSLinear distance of Point ANS to N perpendicular (ANS’) line was approximately half of the linear distance of Point Ba’-A, while Point ANS is placed approximately 5±2 mm ahead of the line N perpendicular.