Occlusal Contact Changes With Traumatic Occlusion After Orthodontic Treatment: A Prospective Study

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate trauma from occlusion in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment through assessment of fremitus, pocket depth, gingival biotype, and occlusal contacts pre-orthodontic treatment (T0) and post-orthodontic treatment (T1). Materials and Methods: This prospective randomized trial included 40 participants selected based on a simple random sampling method, of which 27 were women and 13 were men with ages ranging from 25 to 40 years. All the participants were clinically checked for gingival recession, fremitus, pocket depth, gingival biotype, and occlusal contacts obtained via digital intraoral scans and fed to 3Shape software to perform the occlusal mapping analysis for pre-orthodontic treatment (T0) and post-orthodontic treatment (T1). T-Scan occlusal analysis was performed to check the force levels pertaining to each tooth. A paired t-test was done to find out the changes in fremitus, pocket depth, gingival biotype, and number of occlusal contacts between T0 and T1. Results: Results of paired t-tests showed a statistically significant difference for fremitus between T0 and T1 ( p < .05). Gingival biotype and pocket depth did not show any improvement post-orthodontic treatment (T1) ( p > .05). Number of traumatic occlusal contacts reduced at T1 for incisors and canines showing a statistically significant difference between T0 and T1 ( p < .05). Conclusion: Orthodontic treatment helps in relieving the traumatic occlusal contacts, especially in the incisors and canine regions. As the teeth are relieved from traumatic occlusal contacts, fremitus also has shown to have drastically improved at the end of orthodontic treatment. Gingival biotype and pocket depth might take a longer time to regenerate and improve, which requires long-term observation.