Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the incidence of white spot lesions (WSL) and caries prevelance in patients treated with fixed orthodontic appliances. Material and Methods: A total of 63 individuals were divided into two groups: Study (n:31) Control(n:32). In the study group,patient were treated with fixed orthodontic appliances. The oral hygiene care therapy was provided to these patients before orthodontic treatment and at each control appointments.The patients were also required to use high flouride toothpaste and flouride mouth washes.On the other hand, the control group patients,did not receive any orthodontic appliances and oral hygiene therapy.Caries prevalence was detected by DMFT index,while WSL was scored by Gorelick index.The measurements of WSL and caries by these indexes were done 1 day before the start of orthodontic treatment (T0) and at the end of the orthodontic treatment(T1).The data was statistically analyzed byWilcoxon Signed Ranks, Mann-Whitney tests and the statistical significance was defined as p<0,05. Results:The patients in the study group who received hygiene care therapy and used topical fluorides were found to have less WSL and DMFT score than that of control patients.(p<0,05) In the control group, the prevalence of patients who developed at least WSL was %11.1 , whereas at the end of experiment ,it was % 25,4. Number of WSL and DMFT score did not differ significantly between T0 and T1 for the study group(p>0,05). Conclusion:The present study showed that oral hygiene care is most important factor in the development of WSL and caries. Thus, preventive programmes should be emphesized to all orthodontic patients. The responsibility of an orthodontist is to minimize the risk of the patient having decalcification as a consequence of orthodontic treatment by educating and motivating the patients for excellent oral hygiene practice . Key words: DMFT, white spot lesion,orthodontic treatment

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