Assessment of Oral Health in Patients with Fixed Appliances

Background. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of patients of different age who decide to commence orthodontic treatment. Objectives. The aim of the work was to assess the oral health condition in patients treated with fixed appliances in two-year clinical studies. Material and Methods. Patients were divided into groups A, B and C, 15 persons each. The patients whose orthodontic treatment was commenced were randomly assigned to group A or B, whereas patients whose treatment was postponed were put into group C. All of the patients received the same oral hygiene training except for the frequency with which the recommendations were reminded about. In group A the hygienic recommendations were repeated during every orthodontic appointment, in groups B and C the training was provided only once, at the beginning. The oral health condition was assessed based on the level of oral hygiene indices (PlI and API) and gingival indices (GI, SBI) at the following time points: baseline (T0), after 3 months (T1), 9 months (T2) and 12 months (T3). The final assessment (T4) was performed 3 months after the completion of the orthodontic treatment or 2 years after the first consulting appointment in the case of non-treated patients. Results. The analysis of the mean values of all the indices in group A showed statistically significant changes indicating an improvement of the oral health condition during the orthodontic treatment and after its completion (T1-T4). In group B the best oral health condition was recorded after 3 months (T1). In group C, the oral health condition did not improve significantly in the follow-up study (T4). Conclusions. The effect of the elements of a fixed appliance on the condition of the oral cavity requires further studies in order to develop special prevention programmes