Alveolar bone thickness and height changes following incisor retraction treatment with microimplants

To evaluate alveolar bone remodeling following incisor retraction treatment with microimplants and to examine the relationship between crown/root distal movement and thickness/height changes of the alveolus.

A total of 24 patients (mean age, 19.29 ± 4.64 years) with bialveolar protrusion treated by incisor retraction with microimplants were included. The distances of the crown and root tip movements as well as the thickness (alveolar bone thickness [ABT]; labial, lingual, and total) and vertical level (vertical bone level [VBL]; labial and lingual) of the alveolar bone were assessed using cone-beam computed tomography images obtained before treatment (T1) and after treatment (T2). All T1 and T2 variables were compared, and further comparisons of alveolar bone changes were conducted between the two groups based on the distance of the crown (low-crown-movement and high-crown-movement groups) and root movements (low-root-movement and high-root-movement groups). To determine the correlation of the crown or root movement with the variables of alveolar bone changes, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated.

Significant differences were found in all VBL and ABT variables after treatment in both jaws but not in total ABT. Based on the crown and root movements, alveolar bone change significantly differed between the root-movement groups, whereas there was no significant difference between the crown-movement groups. In addition, root movement showed significant correlations with the variables.

Remarkable changes in the height and thickness of alveolar bone were found after microimplant-aided incisor retraction treatment in all groups except for total ABT. Root movement was significantly correlated with the alveolar bone changes.