IADR Abstract Archives
Dental Plaque Retention and Fixed Orthodontic Devices: a Literature Review
Objectives: Orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances is known to be associated with a risk of dental plaque accumulation leading to both demineralization of enamel and periodontal diseases. The aim of this literature review was to investigate the influence of different designs and types of orthodontic devices such as brackets (conventional, self-ligating, metal or ceramic) and ligatures (elastomeric or metallic) on the aggregation of dental plaque.
Methods: Comprehensive searches of 3 databases (PubMed, GoogleScholar and The Cochrane Library) were completed until december 2020 to identify all peer-reviewed publications possibly relevant to the review. Title and abstract screening was performed to select articles for full text retrieval, according to inclusion and exclusion criterias. The reference lists of included studies were hand searched. Following the selection of all studies and the extraction of pertinent data, the risk of bias and the confidence in the observed results were appraised.
Results: Out of 3712 studies, 31 were finally selected. First of all, no statistically significant difference appeared between self-ligating and conventional brackets in term of dental plaque accumulation. Similarly, although metal brackets seemed to retain the dental biofilm less than the ceramic ones, no significant difference was noted between these two types of brackets. Finally, elastomeric ligatures were clearly more prone to retain dental plaque, probably because of aging of the surface.
Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, the design and type of orthodontic devices seem to have limited influence on the dental plaque accumulation. Maintaining an optimum level of oral hygiene by the patients remains the most important.
Methods: Comprehensive searches of 3 databases (PubMed, GoogleScholar and The Cochrane Library) were completed until december 2020 to identify all peer-reviewed publications possibly relevant to the review. Title and abstract screening was performed to select articles for full text retrieval, according to inclusion and exclusion criterias. The reference lists of included studies were hand searched. Following the selection of all studies and the extraction of pertinent data, the risk of bias and the confidence in the observed results were appraised.
Results: Out of 3712 studies, 31 were finally selected. First of all, no statistically significant difference appeared between self-ligating and conventional brackets in term of dental plaque accumulation. Similarly, although metal brackets seemed to retain the dental biofilm less than the ceramic ones, no significant difference was noted between these two types of brackets. Finally, elastomeric ligatures were clearly more prone to retain dental plaque, probably because of aging of the surface.
Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, the design and type of orthodontic devices seem to have limited influence on the dental plaque accumulation. Maintaining an optimum level of oral hygiene by the patients remains the most important.