Buccal Tissues Thinned Around Proclined Teeth During Early Orthodontic Retention

Edited by Orthotown staff

Buccal bone and gingival tissues thinned around proclined anterior teeth during the first six months of fixed orthodontic retention, even as routine clinical periodontal measures held steady or improved, according to a prospective cohort study published Oct. 17 in Clinical Oral Investigations.

Researchers followed 53 systemically healthy participants who had completed fixed orthodontic treatment within the preceding week. They grouped 636 anterior teeth by post-treatment inclination: maxillary or mandibular, retroclined or proclined. They recorded clinical and high-frequency intraoral ultrasonographic measurements at baseline, three months, and six months.

Plaque index, gingival index, and bleeding on probing generally decreased, and probing depth remained stable. Keratinized tissue width decreased significantly in the proclination groups and increased in the retroclination groups (P < .001).

Ultrasonography detected changes that depended on inclination. In both proclination groups, marginal bone thickness decreased significantly over six months (P < .001), as did gingival thickness at 1 mm and 2 mm apical to the free gingival margin. Mandibular retroclined teeth showed significant increases in marginal bone thickness and gingival thickness. Marginal bone level remained stable in all groups.

Metehan Ozdemir and Sefa Aydindogan of Selcuk University’s department of periodontology and Zehra Ileri of its department of orthodontics in Konya, Turkey, conducted the study. Selcuk University’s Scientific Research Coordination Office funded it, and the authors reported no competing interests.

The authors concluded that the early fixed-retention phase may appear clinically stable while buccal tissues undergo measurable change, particularly around proclined teeth with a thin phenotype, and that intraoral ultrasonography may help clinicians monitor these adaptations. Follow-up covered the first six months of retention.

Sources:
Clinical Oral Investigations, “Clinical and ultrasonographic assessment of periodontal tissue response during the early fixed-retention phase: A prospective cohort study,” published online Oct. 17, 2026: link.springer.com/10.1007/s00784-026-07225-8