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Surgical adjunctive procedures for accelerating orthodontic treatment
Padhraig S Fleming1, Zbys Fedorowicz, Ama Johal
1Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, New Road, London, UK, E1 1BB.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
|July 1, 2015
Summary
Surgically assisted orthodontics may accelerate tooth movement, but evidence is limited. More research is needed to confirm benefits and assess long-term outcomes and adverse effects of these orthodontic treatments.
Area of Science:
- Orthodontics
- Oral Surgery
- Dental Research
Background:
- Increasing interest in reducing orthodontic treatment duration using surgical and non-surgical techniques.
- Uncertainty exists regarding the effectiveness and potential adverse effects of surgical procedures in orthodontics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effects of surgically assisted orthodontics on orthodontic treatment duration and outcomes.
- Evaluate the acceleration of tooth movement and potential benefits of surgical interventions.
Main Methods:
- Systematic search of multiple electronic databases (Cochrane, MEDLINE, EMBASE, etc.) up to September 2014.
- Included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing surgical adjunctive procedures with conventional orthodontic treatment.
- Data extraction and risk of bias assessment by two independent reviewers; fixed-effect model used for analysis.
Main Results:
- Four RCTs with 57 participants (ages 11-33) were included, evaluating corticotomies for orthodontic space closure or canine alignment.
- Studies did not directly report on primary outcomes like treatment duration; tooth movement rate was the main assessed outcome.
- Surgically assisted orthodontics showed slightly quicker tooth movement (0.61 mm at 1 month, 2.03 mm at 3 months), but evidence is low quality and from small sample sizes.
Conclusions:
- Limited research exists on surgical interventions for accelerating orthodontic treatment, with no studies directly measuring treatment duration.
- Available evidence is of low quality, suggesting surgical procedures show short-term promise for accelerating tooth movement.
- Further prospective research with longer follow-up is required to confirm benefits and assess adverse events of surgically assisted orthodontics.
