Clinical evaluation of the tooth movement in aligner orthodontic treatment with and without acceleration devices: Part 1

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of AcceleDent and Orthopulse in accelerating the orthodontic tooth movement of aligner treatment. Materials and methods: In total, 30 patients without skeletal malocclusion were randomly assigned to three groups: the 7 days group - patients were instructed to change aligners every 7 days, without any accelerating devices; the AcceleDent group - patients were instructed to change aligners every 6 days, with the AcceleDent accelerating device; and the Orthopulse group - patients were instructed to change aligners every 5 days, with the Orthopulse accelerating device. Dental information was collected upon pretreatment, aligner 10 and aligner 20 by iTero scanner as T0, T1 and T2; treatment expected dental information was collected upon aligner 10 and aligner 20 by Clincheck as T1' and T2'. Data was imported and analysed by Geomagic qualify 2013, according to the peer assessment rating (PAR) method. Results: No statistical difference was found among those groups in both the maxillary and mandibular arches. The Orthopulse group had the highest tooth moving efficiency among the three groups for its shortest wearing duration and the least difference was between iTero scanner information and Clincheck Software Information, although the difference is not statistically significant. Conclusion: AcceleDent and Orthopulse accelerating devices did not show an observable effect with statistical significance. Keywords: aligner, dental movement acceleration, tooth movement