Effect of vitamin E supplementation on orthodontic tooth movement in Wistar rats: a prelimary study

Background: Tooth movement induced by the application of orthodontic force was initiated by inflammatory process. Studies have shown that vitamin E has an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties which perhaps could inhibit the tooth to move. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of vitamin E supplementation on orthodontic tooth movement in Wistar rats. Methods: Wistar rats (n=56) were divided into two groups. Group 1 served as the control groups, while group 2 was given vitamin E for 14 days before application of orthodontic force. Each group was divided into four subgroups (n=7), corresponding to the number of days orthodontic force lasted, i.e. 0, 1, 3, 7 days. At each of these four time points, distance measurements and quantity of osteoblasts-osteoclasts were measured in each rat. Results: Tooth movement distance was increased for group 2 than group 1 for all time intervals, but this difference was only statistically different on day 3 ( p=0.001). For both groups, tooth movement was significantly different between each time interval in each group ( p=0.041). The mean number of osteoblast cells was increased for group 2 compared to group 1 for all time intervals (p<0.05), but was not significant different between time intervals ( p=0.897). The number of osteoclasts was not significantly different between groups, but it was statistically different between time intervals (p=0.004). Conclusion: The outcome of this study demonstrated that group 2  resulted a better tooth movement compared to group 1 and significantly found on day 3, based on the distance measurement. The osteoclast cell numbers were the same within both control groups, whilst  the number of osteoblast cells in group 2 was significantly higher than those in group 1.