EFFICACY OF TEMPORARY FIXED RETENTION FOLLOWING ...

The reduction in tooth structure of adjacent tooth surfaces also allows for
an increase in available arch space to correct minor crowding without the
subsequent proclination of the incisors (Boese 1980). Bolton (1962) has suggested
that up to approximately 3.5 mm of enamel can be removed from the six
mandibular incisors as needed, and Riedel (1976) stated that potential problems
are not likely to occur if 0.5 mm of enamel is removed from each of two
neighboring anterior teeth. Currently, practitioners looking to avoid extractions
to relieve tooth-arch discrepancies rely on some combination of arch expansion
and interproximal reduction. This method has become an increasingly popular
method to relieve mild to moderate crowding in the current literature. However,
Lindauer (1997, p 31) warns that, “Unless a tooth size discrepancy exists prior to
treatment, tooth size reduction will have to be accomplished equally in both
arches if normal interarch dental relationships are to be attainable. Teeth that are
flared or anteriorly positioned and accompanied by significant amounts of intraarch
crowding, more strongly suggest an extraction decision.”
Posttreatment surgical approaches have also been taken as a means of
stabilizing orthodontic results, especially following the correction of tooth
rotations. Although Jackson (1904) did not use the term “fiberotomy,” he was
the first to mention the procedure when he suggested that “after they [teeth]
have been rotated as far as described, the soft tissue should be separated from
the neck of the tooth and allowed to reunite in the new location, depending on
the cicatrix thus formed to prevent their retrograde movement” (Kaplan 1988, p
326).
In an effort to follow up on the Reitan research (1959, 1967, 1969) and to
help understand the reactions of the periodontal tissues to orthodontic rotations
of teeth, Edwards (1968) studied histologic tissue sections taken from seven dogs
which had teeth experimentally rotated with conventional orthodontic
appliances. Edwards (1970) described a surgical procedure in which the
supracrestal fibrous attachment around the circumference of a tooth was severed
in order to prevent rotational relapse. Boese (1980) proposed “circumferential
supracrestal fiberotomy” in conjunction with “reproximation” (interproximal
enamel reduction). He documented enhanced stability of the mandibular
incisors at between 4 and 9 years posttreatment in 40 patients who exhibited
significant mandibular incisor crowding at pretreatment. Edwards (1988) found
that rotational relapse was prevented more consistently than labiolingual
relapse, and that the surgical procedure was more effective in reducing relapse in
the maxillary arch than in the mandibular arch. However, other authors have
found unpredictable tooth movement can still occur following circumferential
supracrestal fiberotomy (Rinchuse et al. 2007) while still others find it difficult to
draw any definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of circumferential
supracrestal fiberotomy (Riedel and Brandt 1976; Littlewood et al. 2006).
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