This prospective study examined the adult patient's perception of recovery after insertion of three types of orthodontic appliances: Buccal, Lingual and Invisalign. The sample consisted of sixty-eight adult patients (45 females and 23 males) who comprised three groups: 28 Buccal, 19 Lingual, and 21 Invisalign patients. After appliance insertion, patients completed a Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaire daily for the first week and again on day 14, in order to assess patients' perception of pain and analgesic consumption. In addition, four areas of dysfunction were assessed: oral dysfunction, eating disturbances, general activity parameters, and oral symptoms. Lingual appliance was associated with more severe pain and analgesic consumption, the greatest oral and general dysfunction, and the most difficult and longest recovery. The Invisalign patients complained of relatively high levels of pain in the first days after insertion; however this group was characterized by the lowest level of oral symptoms and by a similar level of general activity disturbances and oral dysfunction compared to the Buccal appliance. Many Lingual and some Buccal patients did not reach a full recovery from their eating difficulties by the end of the study period. The present study provides information to adult patients and clinicians assisting them in choosing the most appropriate treatment modality in relation to Health-Related Quality of Life parameters.

Naso-respiratory obstruction with mouth breathing during critical growth periods in children has a higher tendency for clockwise rotation of the growing mandible, with a disproportionate increase in anterior lower vertical face height and decreased posterior facial height.

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Saliva has become a central research issue in oral physiology and pathology. Over the evolution, the oral cavity has evolved the antioxidants uric acid, ascorbate reduced glutathione, plasma-derived albumin and antioxidants polyphenols from nutrients that are delivered to the oral cavity. However, blood cells extravasated from injured capillaries in gingival pathologies, or following tooth brushing and use of tooth picks, may attenuate the toxic activities of H2O2 generated by oral streptococci and by oxidants generated by activated phagocytes. Employing a highly sensitive luminol-dependent chemiluminescence, the DPPH radical and XTT assays to quantify oxidant-scavenging abilities (OSA), we show that saliva can strongly decompose both oxygen and nitrogen species. However, lipophilic antioxidant polyphenols in plants, which are poorly soluble in water and therefore not fully available as effective antioxidants, can nevertheless be solubilized either by small amounts of ethanol, whole saliva or also by salivary albumin and mucin. Plant-derived polyphenols can also act in collaboration with whole saliva, human red blood cells, platelets, and also with catalase-positive microorganisms to decompose reactive oxygen species (ROS). Furthermore, polyphenols from nutrient can avidly adhere to mucosal surfaces, are retained there for long periods and may function as a “slow- release devises” capable of affecting the redox status in the oral cavity. The OSA of saliva is due to the sum result of low molecular weight antioxidants, albumin, polyphenols from nutrients, blood elements and microbial antioxidants. Taken together, saliva and its antioxidants are considered regulators of the redox status in the oral cavity under physiological and pathological conditions.