Prevalence of Oral Microbial Flora during Orthodontic Space Closure: A Pilot Study
Introduction: Orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances especially during the retraction stage makes it challenging to maintain the oral hygiene. Attachments used, such as elastic chains, loops and springs, result in changes in the oral environment due to the accumulation of plaque and increas...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/14141/45173_CE[Ra1]_F(KM)_PF1(AKA_KM)_PN(SL).pdf |
| Summary: | Introduction: Orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances
especially during the retraction stage makes it challenging
to maintain the oral hygiene. Attachments used, such as
elastic chains, loops and springs, result in changes in the oral
environment due to the accumulation of plaque and increase in
the levels of bacterial count mainly Streptococcus mutans and
Lactobacilli species.
Aim: To determine the prevalence of oral microbial flora during
orthodontic space closure.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional pilot
study conducted during the month of December 2019 which
consisted of eight patients who were randomly selected among
the age group of 18-25 years. Mean and SD of age in Males
(4) and Females (4) were 22±2.16 years and 22.25±1.70 years,
respectively and had reported to the Department of Orthodontics
of a private dental college, Saveetha Dental College. In each
patient, after 6-8 months of orthodontic treatment, plaque
samples were collected only once around the orthodontic
brackets at the cervical aspect of the maxillary lateral incisor,
maxillary premolar, mandibular canine, mandibular premolar
in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quadrant respectively, by the method of
cotton swabbing for the evaluation of micro flora. Independent
paired t-test and One-way ANOVA with Post-hoc Tukey HSD
test were done to estimate the prevalence of microorganisms
at different sites.
Results: Independent paired t-test showed highly significant
differences in the levels of Streptococcus mutans when
compared to Lactobacillus (p<0.001) with mean values of
4.8±2.5 and 23.1±9.2 for Streptococcus and Lactobacillus,
respectively. One-way ANOVA with Post-hoc Turkey HSD
analysis showed significant difference at the region of maxillary
lateral incisor compared to other sites whereas Lactobacilli
showed no significant differences between the various sites
tested (p-value<0.001). Kappa statistics was performed which
revealed an inter examiner reliability of 0.91.
Conclusion: During orthodontic space closure, bacterial count
of Streptococcus mutans showed a statistically significant
difference between different sites (maxillary lateral incisor,
mandibular canines, maxillary and mandibular premolars) with
highest being the maxillary incisor region followed by that of
mandibular canines. However, the incidence of Lactobacillus
acidophilus did not show any difference between the various
sites evaluated. |
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| ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |