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EFFICACY OF TEMPORARY FIXED RETENTION FOLLOWING ...

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION<br />

The intent of orthodontic treatment is the “correction and prevention of<br />

malocclusion of the teeth” (Tweed 1941, p 5), but the maintenance of the<br />

corrections has plagued orthodontists possibly since the inception of the<br />

specialty. Hellman (1944) described orthodontic relapse as disturbances<br />

occurring in cases that have been successfully treated that lead to a return of the<br />

teeth to an undesirable state that may not necessarily resemble the original<br />

malocclusion.<br />

Because of the public’s perception that orthodontic treatment results<br />

should persist indefinitely (Graber 1966) and the fact that stability continues to<br />

be a challenge for orthodontists, evidence-based studies are needed to provide<br />

information aimed at minimizing relapse. Whether or not individual cases can<br />

be viewed as successful or not needs to be evaluated by the stability of treatment<br />

results. Rationale and methods of retention following orthodontic treatment<br />

continue to be a popular, yet contentious topic within the specialty (Little et al.<br />

1988; Atack et al. 2007; Cerny and Lloyd 2008).<br />

Relapse is the tendency of teeth, which were moved orthodontically to<br />

new positions during treatment that may not be well stabilized by the<br />

musculature, periodontium and other supporting structures, to return towards<br />

their more stable, pretreatment positions (Joondeph and Riedel 1994). Reitan<br />

(1959) proposed that teeth tend to return to their pretreatment positions during a<br />

period of time following orthodontic correction. In an attempt to establish<br />

whether an “equilibrium position” of the postorthodontic dentition is possible,<br />

Weinstein et al. (1963) attempted to identify and quantify the effects that various<br />

environmental factors might have. Currently however, the various factors<br />

proposed to contribute to relapse remain incompletely understood, giving rise to<br />

differences in retention protocols among clinicians (Melrose and Millett 1998).<br />

Instability of the dentition following orthodontic treatment exists to some<br />

degree in practically every patient (Graber 1994), yet attempts to quantify this<br />

degree have proven to be unpredictable (Little et al. 1981). It is widely accepted<br />

that the mandibular incisors are the teeth most commonly affected by relapse. In<br />

Massler’s study based on 2,758 adolescents ranging in ages from 14 to 18 years<br />

old, he gave statistical evidence that the mandibular central incisors are the most<br />

frequently maloccluded teeth, followed by the mandibular lateral incisors<br />

(Massler 1951). Broadbent (1943) and Fastlicht (1970) also noted the higher<br />

incidence of crowding in the lower incisor region as compared to other areas of<br />

the dentition in both treated and untreated people.<br />

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