The major disadvantage in cervical vertebral maturation stages (CVMS) is the involvement of radiographic exposure. This study was undertaken to assess the applicability of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) blood level as a maturation indicator by correlating it to the CVMS. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted at orthodontic department of our institute. With 80% power of study, 5% desired level of significance and using 0.67 correlation value, a sample size of 75 was calculated. There are five stages of CVMS and in each CVM stage 15 subjects were allocated, therefore collective sample size was 75. The technique of sampling was purposive (non-probability) sampling. Out of 75 patients, 47 (62.7%) were males and 28 (37.3%) were females. The mean ages of the patients were 12.5 ± 2.6 years. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was performed to evaluate the blood serum IGF-1 levels among five stages of CVMS. RESULTS: There was a statistically considerable difference in mean IGF-1 among five stages of CVM. The mean IGF-1 (ng/ml) of CVMS 1 was 204.

Background: The individual effects of nicotine and caffeine have been reported in previous studies but their combined effect on tooth movement needs to be elucidated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the combined effect of nicotine and caffeine on the magnitude of orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) in rats. Material and Methods: This experimental study was conducted on Sprague-Dawley rats (Animal House and Pathology Laboratory; Post Graduate Medical Institute, Lahore) in the department of Orthodontics, de’Montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore from 8th July 2014 to 8th January 2015. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four equal groups: Control group (CR), nicotine group (NT), caffeine group (CF) and combined nicotine and caffeine group (CNC). Closed coil nickel titanium (NiTi) spring was placed between incisor and maxillary molar. Nicotine group (NT) was treated by intraperitoneal injections of nicotine. Caffeine was given to caffeine group and Combined nicotine and caffeine group (CNC) was treated in the same way as individual nicotine and caffeine groups daily for 14 days. All the rats were sacrificed on 15th day. Magnitude of the orthodontic tooth movement was measured using digital Vernier caliper. Means and standard deviation were calculated for orthodontic tooth movement. One-way ANOVA was used to determine the mean difference in OTM. Post hoc Tukey test was used for multiple comparisons among the groups. Results: The mean orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) was 0.32 mm ± 0.05 in control group, 0.56 mm ± 0.04 in nicotine group, 0.52 mm ± 0.034 in caffeine group and 0.8 mm ± 0.06 in combined NC group, respectively. The difference between mean OTM among the groups was statistically significant (P-value <0.001). The mean OTM in CNC group was significantly higher as compared to other groups (CR, NT, CF, NT) (P-value <0.001). Conclusions: In rats, the combined use of nicotine and caffeine results in greater orthodontic tooth movement as compared to their individual use.

ABSTRACT:Introduction: Rapid maxillary expansion (RME) is a dramatic and preferred procedure having a history of over 100 years. When a transverse maxillary Arch is diagnosed it is corrected by doing RME. Although several studies have been done in last four decades on gingival crevicular fluid, no data have been reported on the repeatability of gingival crevicular fluid collection and then following its quantification procedure. The objectives of this study were to examine the changes in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) during rapid palatal expansion and in retention period by hyrax, and to explore the relationship between these changes and periodontal tissue remodeling. Methodology: Seventeen patients with age between 9-14 years were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Periodontal parameters, including probing depth, were recorded at 3 months after RME. Furthermore, the GCF ALP activity was measured at the buccal and palatal sites. Results: Periodontal parameters were generally similar between the Testing and Control sites during the study, with the exception that probing depth underwent a slight increase at the Testing sites. It was observed that at baseline, the GCF ALP activity was similar between the buccal and Control sites; however, at 3 months of retention period a significantly greater enzymatic activity was seen at the Testing sites. Conclusion:The results of our study concluded that in the retention phase of RME, there is reported increase in GCF ALP activity even at the end of 3 months of retention period with no clinically significant tissue inflammation. This increase in GCF ALP activity demands a longer period of retention phase may be up to 6 months of duration.

Introduction: Rapid maxillary expansion (RME) is a remarkable and ideal procedure which has a long history of over 100 years. When a transverse maxillary Arch is diagnosed it is treated by doing RME. Although numerous studies have been done in last four decades on gingival crevicular fluid, no data have been reported on the repeatability of gingival crevicular fluid collection and then following its quantification procedure. The objectives of the study were to observe the changes in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) during rapid maxillary expansion and particularly in retention period and then explore the relationship between these changes and periodontal tissue remodeling.Methodology: Seventeen patients with age between 9-14 years were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria of our study. Periodontal parameters, including probing depth, were recorded at 3 months after RME. Furthermore, the GCF ALP activity was measured at the buccal and palatal sites.Results: Periodontal parameters were generally similar between the Testing and Control sites during the study, with the exception that probing depth underwent a slight increase at the Testing sites. It was observed that at baseline, the GCF ALP activity was similar between the buccal and Control sites; however, at 3 months of retention period a considerably increased enzymatic activity was seen at the Testing sites. Conclusion:The results of our study concluded that in the retention phase of RME, there is reported increased GCF ALP activity observed even at the end of 3 months of retention period with no clinically considerable tissue inflammation. This increase in GCF ALP activity suggests a longer period of retention phase after maxillary expansion may be up to 6 months of duration.