Evaluation of Positional Change of Teeth Caused by the Use of an Anterior Partial Device: A Study by Computerized Tomography

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the possible correlation between using a partial coverage interocclusal plaque and the probability of changes in dental positioning. Methods: this is a transversal study, where twenty patients with temporomandibular muscle dysfunction (tmd) were selected in the city of aracaju-se-brazil, with both gender and aged over 18 years. The clinical examination was carried out by the research diagnostic criteria/tmd, patients were classified according to the subgroup of dysfunctions. Individuals classified as muscular tmd were positioned in the dental chair and submitted to orthodontic button bonding procedures on the buccal surface of the central incisors and on the first molars, in such a way that they served as a guide for overlapping tomographic images. Soon after, the anterior partial device was adapted to the antero-inferior teeth and the patients underwent cone-beam computed tomography. The research participants were instructed to use such a device daily, for eight hours, for a period of eight weeks and, thus, they were submitted to a new tomographic image for later evaluation in three dimensions and measurement of the dental positioning modification, if it occurred. Results: in this study we observe no statistically significant association between the presence of tooth movement and the use of the partial cover plate. Conclusion: according to the results of this study, there was no statistical correlation between the use of the partial-coverage interocclusal plaque and the change in dental positioning for the period evaluated.