Methods of accelerating orthodontic treatment: A review

Abstract

Orthodontic treatment is the reorganization of skeletal and dental tissues. The duration of orthodontic treatment is the primary concern of most patients. Unfortunately, long orthodontic treatment time poses several disadvantages like higher predisposition to dental caries, gingival recession and root resorption. Nowadays, there is an increased tendency for researches to focus on accelerating methods for tooth movement due to the huge demand for adults for a shorter orthodontic treatment time. Orthodontic treatment is based on the premise that when force is delivered to a tooth and thereby transmitted to the adjacent investing tissues, certain mechanical, chemical, and cellular events take place within these tissues, which allow for structural alterations and contribute to the movement of that tooth. Cytokine, PTH, vitamin D, and RANKL/RANK/ OPG show promising results; on the other hand, relaxin does not accelerate tooth movement, but increases the tooth mobility. Many methods are available to accelerate tooth movement, such as surgical methods (corticotomy, piezosurgery etc.), mechanical/physical stimulation methods (vibration, lasers), drugs etc.