Effect Of High-Frequency Vibration on Periodontal Tooth Mobility
Creators: Bajaj, Sameer
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2022

<p>Periodontal disease also known as periodontitis is the second most common cause of tooth loss after dental caries. Almost close to half of the population of the world suffers from various forms (mild, moderate, or severe) of the periodontal disease. The disease is prevalent in mankind because of twofold reasons; inadequate diagnosis and inadequate treatment. The sequela of periodontal disease results in progressive loss of clinical attachment (supporting bone structure) around the teeth. One of the classic self-reported symptoms of periodontitis by the patients is loosening of the teeth which is termed in the dental field as tooth mobility. The loss of supporting bone around the tooth makes the tooth mobile, sequentially leading to tooth loss. If the periodontal disease is diagnosed timely and adequate efforts are made to prevent further attachment loss, tooth loss can be prevented.<br>
    Traditional and time-tested methods of treating periodontal disease include non-surgical (scaling and root planning) and surgical intervention. It is said that once a periodontal patient, is always a periodontal patient, and therefore these patients need to be on supportive periodontal therapy for a long time to save their teeth. Along with these tried and tested approaches clinicians, keep on exploring novel adjunct techniques to improve outcomes for periodontal patients. <br>
Bio-stimulation of hard and soft tissue to enhance or accelerate healing is an exciting area of inquiry, with the potential to have broad clinical application in periodontics. High-frequency vibration (HFV) is routinely used as an adjunct in the field of orthodontics to accelerate the movement of the teeth and reduce treatment times. Their modality is based on bio-stimulation of the inflamed periodontium (inflamed due to orthodontic forces). We hypothesized to use HFV in well-maintained periodontal patients (non-inflamed periodontium) possibly stimulating bone cells to form bone around the teeth thus improving clinical tooth mobility.<br>
A total of 17 patients were recruited for this pilot randomized clinical trial, the first study of its kind in the field of periodontology to study the effects of HFV on the periodontium in a clinical graduate program setting. Research participants were randomly allocated to the test and the control group. The test group participants received HFV through the PTech device for five minutes per night for 12 weeks. The measurable outcomes were changes in clinical tooth mobility as shown by the Periotest value (PTV) and any change in bone mineral density (BMD) as measured in Hounsfield units (HU) deduced from the CBCT. The unit of measurement was the tooth and measurements (both PTV and HU) at the same tooth were made at the baseline examination and a subsequent examination at three months by the same provider.<br>
The sample consisted of 416 teeth (all the teeth in 17 patients) on which measurements were done at the baseline and at three months. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA for dependent samples was performed for statistical analyses. Two separate analyses were carried out; one for the entire data set and the other for the target teeth (mobile teeth) only. At the end of the study when considering target teeth (114 mobile teeth) we concluded that there was no evidence of change in the clinical tooth mobility as shown by the Periotest value (PTV) or by Miller’s method. Similarly, there was no evidence of change in the BMD as determined by HU. Future studies on a larger scale and longer duration are needed to validate and extrapolate the results of this pilot study.</p>