Acceleration of Orthodontic Tooth Movement: An Overview

Abstract

The purpose of orthodontic treatment is to enhance patients’ life quality by improving their dentofacial functions and aesthetics. Minimal histological damage and pain, rapid tooth movement, short treatment duration, and stability of results are the major criteria for successful treatment. In recent years, the demand for orthodontic treatment has been increasing gradually. Prolonged duration of orthodontic treatment affects the psychological motivation of the patients and leads to several undesirable situations, such as caries, gingival recession, and root resorption. Thus, in recent years, related research has investigated the acceleration of orthodontic tooth movement. However, despite the various laboratory and clinical interventions designed to achieve faster tooth movement, uncertainties and unanswered questions about these techniques persist and warrant further investigation. Several surgical techniques as well as physical and chemical applications have been reported by previous studies to accelerate orthodontic tooth movement, most of which have been conducted on animals, with debatable applicability on humans. However, as tooth movement is a multifactorial phenomenon, further research is needed in the future. In this review, we describe the orthodontic tooth movement acceleration methods reported thus far.