Assessment of Periapical Root Resorption after Six Months of Fixed Orthodontic Treatment

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the frequency and amount of root resorption after 6 months of fixed orthodontic treatment in crowding and non-crowding orthodontic patients. Methods: This cross sectional study conducted at the Department of Orthodontics, Alvi Dental Hospital, Karachi. The six month study was conducted from June - December 2008. Sample consists of 60 patients of two groups. Group A comprises of 30 patients of crowding in maxillary anterior teeth and Group B consisted of 30 patients of non crowding cases of maxillary anterior teeth. The data was collected through non probability purposive sampling. In preorthodontic phase (stage I), the apical root resorption was measured as a difference between length of tooth at pretreatment (T1) as compare to stage II (Postorthodontic stage) i.e. length of root six months after the orthodontic treatment (T2). Subjective scoring of resorption was done from 0-4 with the help of apical root resorption index. Finally the root resorption was compared in between two groups i.e. crowding and non-crowding and data was recorded in a predesigned questionnaire. Results: In crowding group we found 27 (90%) cases with apical root resorption of less than 2mm as compared to non-crowding group, which had 21 (70%) cases. When compared the length of the tooth in stage II the average length was significantly higher in non-crowding group as compared to crowding (p < 0.05). In crowding group we found statistically significant difference in mean decrease length of tooth (mm) at T2 i. e after 6 months compared to mean tooth length (mm) (p < 0.05) at T1. We estimated mean decrease of difference in length of T1 and T2 in crowding group compared with noncrowding group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: There is significant difference (p< 0.05) in mean length of tooth root in crowding and noncrowding patients after six months of orthodontic treatment.