ORTHO INDUSTRY NEWS Clinical Study Results on Photobiomodulation Safety To Accelerate Orthodontic Tooth Movement Biolux Research Ltd released results from new clinical trial results related to the safety of using photobiomodulation to accelerate tooth movement, based on a study completed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Depart-ment of Orthodontics. The purpose of this study, performed on 20 subjects, was to determine whether a photobiomodulation therapy, used in conjunction with orthodontic treatment, affected root resorption (i.e., clinically meaningful loss of root length or morphology). Root resorption is typically minimized or avoided in orthodontics through careful planning and use of lower mechanical forces and time, and there is always a question of effect of acceleration tech-niques or technologies on root resporption. In this study, test subjects used a prototype OrthoPulse™ phototherapy device from Biolux which produced near-infrared light for a daily treat-ment over a period of six months during the alignment and leveling phase of orthodontic treatment. The rate of alignment as measured with Little’s Irregularity Index, was 1.03 mm/wk in the maxilla, and 0.92 mm/wk in the mandible, in patients rang-ing in age from 11 to 32 years old (mean of 17.5 years old). These rates of alignment with photobiomodulation were much higher than those reported in the cited previous studies, approximately twice as fast, indicating accelerated tooth movement. To measure changes in root morphology, 3-D images generated from a new cone beam computerized tomogra-phy (CBCT) were taken of the dentition at the start of treat-ment and the end of the six-month study period and then compared using analysis soft-ware for changes in root length and shape. Measure-ments of all teeth present were made from the mesial buccal roots of the first molar on one side of the dental arch, to the mesial buccal roots of the first molar on the opposite side of the same arch. A paired t-test was used to determine if significant differences occurred for root lengths at the end of treat-ment compared to the start of treatment for each of the indi-vidual tooth groups. No statistical differences were noted for root length at the six-month period compared to the start of treatment, which is a positive result given the higher rates of crowding resolu-tion and tooth movement. An additional finding was that there was no correlation between initial degree of crowding and root resorption, suggesting that the photother-apy technology can safely be used on a wide range of orthodontic patients. www.orthodontics.com Winter 2014 9
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Winter 2014: Page 9
