[On the pain experience of the tooth caused by placement of initial archwire]

Twenty nine patients completed a pain index card for the first 14 days following placement of an archwire. The index card divided the day into morning, afternoon and evening sessions and the patients were asked to score on a 0-3 basis of the severity of discomfort caused to the teeth (score 0: no discomfort, score 1: discomfort, score 2: mild pain, score 3: severe pain). Results were as follows: 1) All patients suffered discomfort and/or pain following placement of an archwire (discomfort: 10.3%, mild pain: 72.4%, severe pain: 17.2%). 2) There was no significant difference in the pain experience among the three age groups (under 12, 13 to 19 and over 20 years of age). 3) There was statistically significant difference in the pain experience between the sexes. 4) There was no significant difference in the pain experience among the four kinds of archwires (0.0175" braided wire, 0.012" stainless steel wire, 0.016" and 0.016" x 0.022" nickel titanium alloy wire). 5) The discomfort experience was observed in 37.9% and the mild pain experience was in 3.4% of the cases immediately after placement of the archwire. 6) The pain experience was observed in 62.1% of the cases by the end of the day. In 20.7% the pain experience was observed the next day and the pain experience was observed after 2 days in 3.4%. 7) In the severe pain group, the mean value of the pain experience was 4.4 days and that of the discomfort experience was 8.2 days.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)