Assessment of hair nickel and chromium levels in patients with a fixed orthodontic appliance: a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies

Introduction: The metals nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr) can cause immunological sensitivity and adverse biological and cytotoxic effects. Aim: To evaluate hair levels of these metals in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment compared with controls. Material and methods: Five databases - PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect - were searched up to January 2018 for evaluation of the hair levels of nickel and/or chromium in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment. To assess the study quality, the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used (NOS), and to compare hair Ni and Cr levels in the cases compared with the controls, a random-effects meta-analysis was performed by Review Manager 5.3 using standard mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Out of 38 studies in the databases searched, 6 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled SMD of hair Ni levels between the cases and controls was 0.95 mu g/g (95% CI: -0.09, 1.99; p = 0.07), which showed that the Ni level was similar in the cases compared with the controls, and that for hair Cr levels was 0.88 mu g/g (95% CI: -0.45, 2.21; p = 0.20), so the Cr level was similar in the cases compared with the controls. Conclusions: The slightly elevated hair levels of Ni and Cr in patients undergoing fixed orthodontic treatment suggest that changing the components of fixed orthodontic appliances can be considered as an acceptable solution in the future.