Adult periodontal comparison after treatment of palatally impacted canines aligned by conventional or accelerated minimally-invasive corticotomy-assisted orthodontic traction: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the post-treatment periodontal status of the palatally impacted canines and their adjacent teeth treated by an accelerated minimally-invasive corticotomy-assisted method versus the conventional traction method. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A parallel-group two-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted on patients with palatally or mid-alveolar unilateral impacted canines. Participants were randomly selected and allocated to receive the conventional treatment (CT) with a closed surgical approach, or accelerated treatment (CAT). The evaluated periodontal variables were periodontal pocket depth (PPD), keratinized tissue width (KTW), gingival recession level (GRL), papillary bleeding index (PBI) and Gingival Index (GI). All post-treatment periodontal measurements were performed two weeks after removing the fixed orthodontic appliance. RESULTS: In total, 46 patients were included (CT group: n=23; mean age: 20.26±2.17 years), or accelerated treatment (CAT group: n=23; mean age: 20.39±2.27 years). The differences between the two study groups were non-significant for all periodontal outcomes at all measurement points (P>.05). The mean total values of PPD around the aligned canine did not exceed 2mm (XPPD=1.99±0.25mm; 1.91±0.26mm, in the CT and CAT group, respectively, P=0.677). The results of total values of PPD on the adjacent teeth were nearly similar in the two study groups (mean difference: 0.12mm; 0.02mm, for the lateral incisor and the first premolar, respectively). Very low GRL values were detected in the two study groups. CONCLUSIONS: The use of corticotomy-assisted method did not impair the periodontal health in the short follow-up term. Both treatment modalities are considered acceptable in terms of post-treatment periodontal outcomes, as the gingival indices levels were at low values.

Assessment of Patient-Centered Outcomes When Treating Palatally Impacted Canines Using Conventional Versus Accelerated Minimally Invasive Corticotomy-Assisted Orthodontic Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective This study aimed to investigate whether there were any differences in pain levels, discomfort, and functional impairments when treating palatally impacted canines (PICs) using the conventional treatment method compared to the accelerated minimally invasive corticotomy-assisted method. Materials and methods Fifty-two patients (11 males and 41 females) with unilateral PICs were included. The patients were randomly assigned to the conventional traction group (26 patients, mean age of 20.37 ± 2.15 years) or the minimally-invasive corticotomy-assisted group (26 patients, mean age of 20.18 ± 2.18 years). The levels of pain, discomfort, and functional difficulties were assessed using a visual analog scale (VAS) after 24 hours (T1), four days (T2), seven days (T3), 14 days (T4), and 28 days (T5) following the surgical exposure procedure. Results There were no statistically significant differences between the two treatment groups for any patient-centered outcome at all assessment times (P>0.01). The levels of pain and discomfort were slightly greater in the conventional group than in the corticotomy-assisted group on the first day after surgical exposure, with no significant difference between the two groups (mean pain: 4.11, P=0.481; mean discomfort: 9.00, P=0.223). Pain and discomfort required seven days to reach low levels and four weeks to reach the lowest levels in both study groups. The levels of swelling, mastication difficulties, swallowing difficulties, limitation in jaw movements and speech changes were mild to moderate on the first postoperative day and the recovery time was four days postoperatively for swallowing difficulties and speech changes. In comparison, the recovery time was seven days for the other three outcomes in both study groups. Conclusions After one day of the surgical intervention, either by conventional or corticotomy-assisted methods, the patients reported mild to moderate pain, discomfort, and functional impairments. These disabilities gradually reached low levels during the first and second weeks to reach their lowest levels four weeks postoperatively in both study groups. The similarity between the conventional and the acceleration methods in pain levels and other oral disabilities may make corticotomy-assisted treatment a comfortable and effective method when treating adult patients with PICs. In addition, patient satisfaction with the corticotomy-assisted procedure was high.

The Effectiveness of Conventional and Accelerated Methods of Orthodontic Traction and Alignment of Palatally Impacted Canines in Terms of Treatment Time, Velocity of Tooth Movement, Periodontal, and Patient-Reported Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

The objective of the current review was to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional and accelerated methods of palatally impacted canine's (PIC) traction in terms of treatment duration, velocity, periodontal, and patient-reported variables. An electronic search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled clinical trials (CCTs) published between January 1990 and October 2021 was conducted in nine databases. Five major orthodontic journals were hand searched for additional studies. The participants were patients with unilateral or bilateral PICs who received conventional or accelerated orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances. Cochrane's risk of bias tool (RoB 2 tool) for RCTs and ROBINS-I tool for CCTs were used to assess the risk of bias. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines were used to assess the overall quality of the evidence. Nine articles (eight RCTs and one CCT) were included in this review (371 patients). There was no clarity in most studies about the possible effect of the mechanical traction method on treatment outcomes. The treatment duration decreased (about three to six months) when the open surgical method was used with traditional techniques and the traction velocity increased significantly (about 1-1.5 mm/month) when acceleration methods were used. No significant differences were found between the conventional intervention groups, as well as between the traditional and accelerated groups, in terms of most periodontal variables (p > 0.005). No significant differences were found in the pain levels associated with traditional PICs' traction when comparing different exposure methods in the short-term follow-up (1-10 days), while contradictory results were found in the pain incidence between these methods. The relationship between the pain/discomfort levels and the type of mechanical traction method was not evaluated. According to the GRADE, the quality of evidence supporting these findings ranged from low to very low. The combination of the open surgical technique with various designs of either superelastic wires or elastic traction means can lead to a reduction in the orthodontic treatment duration of PICs. The use of direct anchorage by miniscrews to move the PICs away from the adjacent teeth roots can lead to a reduction in root resorption and shorten the treatment duration. The evidence supporting these findings ranged from low to very low. The use of different types of mechanical means for conventional PICs' traction, with the use of open or closed traction techniques, does not lead to significant differences in periodontal outcomes between intervention groups. Contradictory results exist regarding the severity of the perceived pain in relation to the surgical exposure type, and the relationship between this variable and the mechanical traction method is still unclear. The use of accelerated methods for PICs' traction can lead to an increase in the velocity of traction movement with no significant differences in periodontal outcomes between accelerated and conventional methods. The evidence supporting these findings ranged from low to very low. More high-quality randomized CCTs are needed to establish good evidence in this field. The protocol of this systematic review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; CRD42021274476) during the first stages of this review.

Evaluation of the open-bite Bionator versus the removable posterior bite plane with a tongue crib in the early treatment of skeletal anterior open bite: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Several treatment approaches can be found in the literature about early treatment of open bite. However, no studies have addressed the use of a removable posterior bite plane with a tongue crib (RPBP/C), compared with functional appliances, for treating open-bite cases. The objectives of this trial was to compare the effectiveness of the open-bite Bionator (OBB) and the RPBP/C as an early intervention to correct skeletal open-bite cases in children, in terms of limiting excessive vertical growth of the craniofacial skeletal components and normalizing the developement of the anterior dentoalveolar region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial was conducted. Forty patients with a skeletal anterior open bite (age range: 7.5-10.5 years) were treated at the University of xxxx School of Dentistry in xxxx, xxxx. They were distributed randomly into 2 equal groups: the OBB group (20 patients; mean age: 8.8 ± 1.5 years) and the RPBP/C group (20 patients; mean age: 8.6 ± 1.1 years). Randomization was based on a computer-generated sequence of random numbers. Primary outcome measures were the skeletal and dentoalveolar variables, whereas the secondary outcome measures were the soft-tissue parameters assessed on standardized lateral cephalograms collected before and after 12 months of treatment. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to detect significant differences between the 2 groups. RESULTS: Both the OBB and the RPBP/C appliances induced favorable dental effects. A statistically significant difference was found between the 2 groups in the overbite (P = 0.003). Open bite in the OBB group showed a mean closure of 4.91 mm (SD 0.4 mm), and a mean closure of 3.43 mm (SD 0.3 mm) was observed in the RPBP/C group. Dentoalveolar changes at the anterior region were evident, with statistically significant extrusion, and lingual tipping of the maxillary and mandibular incisors (P ≤ 0.05). The results showed no significant differences in the skeletal changes between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: The OBB and the upper posterior bite plane with crib were both effective in the early treatment of the skeletal anterior open bite. However, closure of the anterior open bite was mainly due to the dentoalveolar changes at the anterior region of the dental arches.