Occlusal outcome of orthodontic treatment: a systematic review with meta-analyses of randomized trials.

Background: Several appliances or treatment protocols are marketed to either patients or orthodontists as being associated with improved orthodontic outcomes. However, clinical decision-making should be based on robust scientific evidence and not marketing claims or anecdotal evidence.

Objective: To identify appliances/protocols being associated with improved outcomes of fixed appliance treatment.

Indicators of transparency and data sharing in scientific writing in published randomized controlled trials in orthodontic journals between 2019 and 2023: an empirical study.

Aim: To identify data sharing practices of authors of randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) in indexed orthodontic journals and explore associations between published reports and several publication characteristics.

Materials And Methods: RCTs from indexed orthodontic journals in major databases, namely PubMed® (Medline), Scopus®, EMBASE®, and Web of Science™, were included from January 2019 to December 2023. Data extraction was conducted for outcome and predictor variables such as data and statistical code sharing practices reported, protocol registration, funding sources, and other publication characteristics, including the year of publication, journal ranking, the origin of authorship, number of authors, design of the RCT, and outcome-related variables (e.

Microplastics and orthodontic aligners: The concerns arising from the modernization of practice through polymers and plastics.

Plastic aligners have transformed orthodontics, offering a discreet, comfortable, and aesthetically pleasing alternative to traditional fixed appliances. While they have advantages over fixed appliances, they come with environmental and health concerns due to the use of nonbiodegradable plastics, such as the leaching of Bisphenol-A (BPA) and microplastics that can impact human health directly through ingestion. Studies have shown that plastic aligners release microplastics during use, raising concerns about their potential health effects and environmental pollution.

Intraoral ageing of aligners and attachments: Adverse effects on clinical efficiency and release of biologically-active compounds.

The clinical application of aligners is accompanied by the ageing of the polymer appliances and the attachments used, which may result in inefficiency in reaching the predicted range of tooth movement, and release of compounds and microplastics in the oral cavity as a result of the friction, wear and attrition of the aligner and composite attachment. The purpose of this review is to present the mechanism and effects of ageing; describe the hydrolytic degradation of aligners and enzymatic degradation of composite attachments; examine the ageing pattern of aligners , under actual clinical scenarios; and identify a link to the discrepancy between predicted and actual clinical outcome. Lastly, strategies to deal with three potentially critical issues associated with the use of aligners, namely the necessity of weekly renewal, the dissimilar mechanical properties of aligner and attachment resulting in wear and plastic deformation of the aligner, and the development of integuments and biofilms with microbial colonization of the appliance, are discussed.