Interdental Spacing and Orthodontic Treatment in Competitive Athletes: Clues to Doping with Growth Hormones?

Abstract

The aim of this report is to examine clues of a suspected link between the artificial ingestion of human growth hormone (rh- GH) and resulting interdental spaces in adult athletes. We conducted an electronic search in the German-language versions of the search engines Google and Google Scholar as well as in the database PubMed. While no explicit articles could be identified in PubMed, the search in Google and Google Scholar produced 1370 and 6 hits, respectively. Original quotes from 20 sources show that in the media the wearing of orthodontic multibracket appliances among athletes is largely attributed to changes in tooth position as a consequence of the illegal ingestion of rhGH. On the other hand, there are few references to the possibility that orthodontic treatments with fixed appliances might be carried out for reasons unrelated to doping. A definitive assessment of this issue is not possible at present. In view of its major importance of the subject, the relationships depicted here should be investigated in greater depth.