Effects of drugs and systemic
factors on orthodontic treatment.
Department of Orthodontics, University of Athens, School of Dentistry, Athens, Greece.
Orthodontic tooth movement and bone remodeling activity are
dependent on systemic factors such as nutritional factors,
metabolic bone diseases, age, and use of drugs. Therefore,
a comprehensive review of the effects of these factors on orthodontic
tooth movement is attempted in this article. Systemic hormones
such as estrogen, androgen, and calcitonin are associated with
an increase in bone mineral content, bone mass, and a decrease
in the rate of bone resorption. Consequently, they could delay
orthodontic tooth movement. On the contrary, thyroid hormones
and corticosteroids might be involved in a more rapid orthodontic
tooth movement during orthodontic therapy and have a less stable
orthodontic result. Drugs such as bisphosphonates, vitamin
D metabolites, and fluorides can probably cause a reduction
of tooth movement after the orthodontic force is applied. Nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs have also been shown to reduce bone
resorption. Long-term administration of these drugs may therefore
delay the necessary bone response to respective tooth-borne
pressure and should not be administered for long periods of
time to patients undergoing orthodontic tooth movement. Attention
has also been focused on the effects of prostaglandins and
leukotrienes in orthodontic tooth movement. It seems that they
might have future clinical applications that could result in
enhanced tooth movement. The use of the above drugs should
be considered by every dentist in evaluating the treatment
time and in planning treatment when tooth movement is attempted.
Quintessence Int. 2001 May;32(5):365-71.
