Use of liquid-based cytology samples reveals genomic instability and cell death in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment.

Purpose: To examine the use of liquid-based exfoliative cytology to determine the presence of genomic instability and cell death in the oral mucosa of patients with orthodontic appliances.

Methods: Fifty-four oral mucosa samples were collected from 18 patients and divided into three stages: T0, before fixation of orthodontic appliances; T1, 25 days after appliance fixation; T2, 90 days after appliance fixation. All samples were Papanicolaou-stained and observed by microscopy (1,000 cells/sample) to ascertain the frequency of micronucleated cells (MN) and nuclear abnormalities (nuclear buds (NB), binucleated (BN), condensed chromatin (CC), karyorrhexis (KR), and karyolysis (KL)).