Aim:

The aim of the present study was to compare external apical root resorption (EARR) on maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth of the patients undergoing a four month of initial orthodontic treatment with self-ligating and conventional brackets.

Subjects and Method:

Thirty-one patients aged from 13 to 22 years were randomly divided into two groups. The patients in groups 1 and 2 were orthodontically treated during the initial leveling and alignment for the 4-month period with self-ligating and conventional brackets with 0.022 inch slots, respectively. EARR scores determined according to Malmgren index were examined before and after treatment by means of panoramic films and statistical comparison between the groups were compared by means of Pearson chi-square test.

Results:

Irregular root contour (score 1) was observed in 17 teeth of the 8 patients prior to the treatment. No teeth showed the scores of 2 and 3. Therefore, the root resorption due to the orthodontic treatment was considered present if score 2 or higher were registered. In the self ligating group, only 1 patient (1/14; 7.1%%) showed minor root resorption with score 2 in the mandibular left lateral incisor. In the conventional bracket group, 1 patient (1/17; 5.9%%) showed minor resorption (score 2) in the maxillary right and left central incisors after a 4-month of orthodontic treatment. Score 3 was not detected in any of the patients examined (p>0.05).

Conclusion:

In both groups, only one patient had minor resorption (EARR score: 2) after a 4-month orthodontic treatment with no statistically significant difference.

Keywords: Root resorption; Selfligating; Orthodontics.