Root Damage and Repair following Placement of a Temporary Anchorage Device: A Histological Study

The study was done to examine the root damage and repair of the tooth surface due to temporary anchorage devices (TAD) by histological and histomorphometrical analysis. The study group consists of 8 patients, four males and four females with a mean age of 22.5 ± 5.6 years. Patients warranting first bicuspid extraction for orthodontic treatment were included in the study. With the guidance of intraoral radiographs and wire guide, TAD’s were placed on the mesial side of the first bicuspid. After root contact of premolars with TAD’s, TAD’s were immediately removed and a repair period of 4th week, 8th week, and 12th week is observed in all the teeth. After the respective observation time periods the premolars were extracted and assessed histologically and histomorphometrically. Results showed that in the 4th week follow up the range of repair is 81.41% ± 6.59%, in the 8th week follow up the range of repair is 86.03% ± 8.72%, and that of 12th week is 92.63% ± 13.52%. When comparing the Sex wise and Age wise distribution of study subjects based on the duration of repair did not show clinical significance p value > 0.05. When comparing the differences in mean histological repair during the phases of the study there was a significant difference p < 0.05 between 4th and 12th weeks in the duration of repair. CONCLUSION: The conclusions drawn from the study are:- 1. There is rapid repair of the teeth damaged by TAD’s. 2. The repair process increases with increase in duration of time. 3. The repair process is not influenced by the age or sex of the individual. Further studies with more samples are essential to find out the long term prognosis of root damaged with TAD