The statin family of drugs are safe and effective therapeutic agents for the treatment of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). Due to a wide range of health benefits in addition to their cholesterol lowering properties, statins have recently attracted significant attention as a new treatment strategy for several conditions, which are not directly related to normalizing a lipid profile and preventing CVD. Statins exert a variety of beneficial effects on different aspects of oral health, which includes their positive effects on bone metabolism, their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and their potential effects on epithelization and wound healing. Additionally, they possess antimicrobial, antiviral, and fungicidal properties, which makes this class of drugs attractive to the field of periodontal diseases and oral and dental health. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no comprehensive study to date, which has investigated the effects of statin drugs on different aspects of dental and oral health. Therefore, the primary objective of this paper was to review the effect of statins on dental and oral health. Results of our extensive review have indicated that statins possess remarkable and promising effects on several aspects of dental and oral health including chronic periodontitis, alveolar bone loss due to either extraction or chronic periodontitis, osseointegration of implants, dental pulp cells, orthodontic tooth movement, and orthodontic relapse, tissue healing (wound/bone healing), salivary gland function, and finally, anti-cancer effects. Hence, statins can be considered as novel, safe, inexpensive, and widely-accessible therapeutic agents to improve different aspects of dental and oral health.

Background. Reliable immunohistochemical assays to assess the definitive role of mast cells (MCs) and angiogenesis in the pathogenesis of oral reactive lesions are generally not available. The aim of the present study was to evaluate mast cell counts (MCC) and microvessel density (MVD) in oral reactive lesions and determine the correlation between MCC and MVD.Methods. Seventy-five cases of reactive lesions of the oral cavity, including pyogenic granuloma, fibroma, peripheral giant cell granuloma, inflammatory fibrous hyperplasia, peripheral ossifying fibroma (15 for each category) were immunohisto-chemically stained with MC tryptase and CD31. Fifteen cases of normal gingival tissue were considered as the control group. The mean MCC and MVD in superficial and deep connective tissues were assessed and total MCC and MVD was computed for each lesion.Results. Statistically significant differences were observed in MCC and MVD between the study groups (P < 0.001). MC tryptase and CD31 expression increased in the superficial connective tissue of each lesion in comparison to the deep con-nective tissue. A significant negative correlation was not found between MCC and MVD in oral reactive lesions (P < 0.001, r = -0.458). Conclusion. Although MCs were present in the reactive lesions of the oral cavity, a direct correlation between MCC and MVD was not found in these lesions. Therefore, a significant interaction between MCs and endothelial cells and an active role for MCs in the growth of oral reactive lesions was not found in this study.

Background. The aim of this longitudinal observational study was to evaluate patients’ perceptions of alignment changes during the first stage of fixed orthodontic treatment. Methods. Ninety-three non-extraction patients (mean age: 17.6 years) who were scheduled to undergo fixed-appliance treatment in the first author's private office were included. Patients assessed the alignment of their teeth subjectively using visual analogue scale at the bonding session and four, eight and 12 weeks later. The amount of Little's irregularity index at each session was calculated on stone casts. Freidman test was used to compare the "alignment changes" between different intervals. Correlation coefficients were calculated using Spearman test between Little’s irregularity indices and alignment scores reported by the patients in each session. Results. No patients reported regression in alignment changes during three-month course of treatment. The final changes (from bonding session to the 12th-week visit) were smaller than the sum of the three intervals, which indicated that patients became more perceptive as the treatment progressed. Comparison of two scores reported for each session (in the same session and in the next session) revealed that patients could not recall their previous situation well. Patients do not perceive alignment changes in the same way as clinicians. Furthermore, patients who were 16 or older perceived smaller alignment changes during the first four-week period and smaller final alignment changes. Conclusion. To obtain better patient compliance and improve their motivation throughout orthodontic treatment, patientspecific measures should be undertaken, including reminding them about their initial conditions and highlighting the changes as the treatment progresses.

Background: Statins are effective therapeutic agents for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Their favorable effects on various aspects of oral health including promising effects on bone metabolism and pleiotropic impacts such as anti-inflammatory properties made these drugs a current area of interest in the field of orthodontics. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of statins on orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) in animals undergoing orthodontic treatments. Methods: Several databases were comprehensively searched for studies measuring the effects of statins on the OTM up to January 2020, including MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, EMBASE, Scopus, and Cochrane. Animal studies evaluating the effects of statins on tooth movements in animals undergoing orthodontic treatments were selected based on the PICO model .Study selection, data extraction, risk of bias, and study quality assessment were independently performed by two reviewers. Finally, the data were analyzed using random-effects meta-analysis and the mean difference (MD) was used for comparing the outcome measures. Results: Three randomized trials were finally included in this meta-analysis. According to the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory animal Experimentation Tool, all the included studies had at least one domain at a high risk of bias. The amount of the OTM was insignificantly lower in the statin group (MD = 0.134 mm, %95 confidence interval = -0.020-0.288, P>0.05). Conclusions: Due to the low quality and methodological inconsistencies among the included studies, conclusive confirmation regarding the effect of statins on the OTM remains debatable. Trail Registration: The protocol of this study was registered on PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/ PROSPERO/) with the ID # CRD42020164155.