# Pain Perception during Orthodontic Treatment with Fixed Appliances
## 3 Results  
Our sample included 100 patients divided into four age groups: 12-18 years (22%), 18-24 years (29%), 24-30 years (32%), and over 30 years (17%).  
Distribution of pain intensity depending on the number of patients: the Numerical Pain Rating Scale ranged from 0 to 10 (0 being no pain, and 10 being extreme pain). Figure 1 shows the distribution of patients according to the age limits we have chosen. Figure 2 shows that of all 100 subjects included in the study, only 1 patient chose 2 as the lowest value, most of the patients chose the values 5 and 6 for pain intensity, and only 4 patients chose the highest value, 10. Following the calculations performed, the total mean of pain for the entire sample was 5.76.  
Figure 1: Distribution of patients by age groups.  
Figure 2: Distribution of pain intensity depending on the number of patients.  
Distribution of patients depending on the period perceived as most painful: in the following diagram (Figure 3), the most painful period perceived by the subjects included in the study is analyzed. A significant number of them (29) chose the first 24 h as the most painful period, while the majority (40) selected the first 3-4 days as the most painful ones.  
Figure 4 shows that the perceived pain was significantly higher for the patients who needed pre-medication before interventions than for those who took no medication. At the same time, we may see that the mean pain value in men was higher than in women in both situations (with or without pre-medication).  
The perception of pain is different in our group depending on age, as is indicated by the Student \(t\)-test value obtained: t = 1.94, \(p<0.01\). We admit that people suffer the intensity of perceived pain differently as they grow older.  
Concerning the need for medication after placement of orthodontic appliances, we can see that only 19% of the entire studied sample did not consider self-medication as necessary, whilst the vast majority, of 81%, chose to take medication to relieve the sensation of pain. Among those who used self-medication, almost 68% selected Ibuprofen, 15.6% chose Metamizole, 13.7% Paracetamol (Acetaminophen), and about 3% chose other drugs such as Codeine.  
Figure 4: Distribution of patients depending on the type and the need for medication.  
Figure 3: Distribution of patients depending on the period perceived as most painful.  
Figure 5 shows that for the females in the studied sample, the mean pain value was significantly lower than the mean value for the males.  
There are differences in pain perception depending on gender, as indicated by the ANOVA results: F = 33.6, \(p\) < 0.01. Males suffered more than women from orthodontic procedures (interventions).  
The diagram below (Figure 6) shows that the mean pain value varied during both daytime and night-time throughout the first 24 h.  
By analyzing the intensity of pain during the four most frequent orthodontic procedures, we may see that the most painful one was ring cementation in all four age groups, with a higher value for the group aged 18-24 years old (m = 2.83). The therapeutic-arch-activation procedure ranked second, with a higher mean value of 2.66 in