BackgroundAlthough a great number of specific quality of life measures have been developed to analyze the impact of wearing fixed appliances, there is still a paucity of systematic appraisal of the consequences of orthodontics on quality of life. To assess the current evidence of the relationship between orthodontic treatment and quality of life.MethodsFour electronic databases were searched for articles concerning the impact of orthodontic treatment on quality of life published between January 1960 and December 2013. Electronic searches were supplemented by manual searches and reference linkages. Eligible literature was reviewed and assessed by methodologic quality as well as by analytic results.ResultsFrom 204 reviewed articles, 11 met the inclusion criteria and used standardized health related quality of life and orthodontic assessment measures. The majority of studies (7/11) were conducted among child/adolescent populations. Eight of the papers were categorized as level 1 or 2 evidence based on the criteria of the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. An observed association between quality of life and orthodontic treatment was generally detected irrespective of how they were assessed. However, the strength of the association could be described as modest at best. Key findings and future research considerations are described in the review.ConclusionsFindings of this review suggest that there is an association (albeit modest) between orthodontic treatment and quality of life. There is a need for further studies of their relationship, particularly studies that employ standardized assessment methods so that outcomes are uniform and thus amenable to meta-analysis.

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Pathogenic bacteria infection is a serious threat to human public health due to the high morbidity and mortality rates. Nano delivery system for delivering antibiotics provides an alternative option to improve the efficiency compared to conventional therapeutic agents. In addition to the drug loading capacity of nanocarriers, which is typically around 10%, further lowers the drug dose that pathological bacteria are exposed to. Moreover, nanocarriers that are not eliminated from the body may cause side effects. These limitations have motivated the development of self-delivery systems that are formed by the self-assembly of different therapeutic agents. In this study, a vehicle-free antimicrobial polymer polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB, with bactericidal and anti-biofilm functions) hybrid gold nanoparticle (Au NPs, with photothermal therapy (PTT)) platform (PHMB@Au NPs) is developed. This platform exhibits an excellent synergistic effect to enhance the photothermal bactericidal effect for Staphylococcus aureus under near-infrared irradiation. Furthermore, the results showed that PHMB@Au NPs inhibit the formation of biofilms, quickly remove bacteria to promote wound healing through PTT in infection model in vivo, and even mediate the transition of macrophages from M1 to M2 type, and accelerate tissue angiogenesis. PHMB@Au NPs will have promising value as highly effective antimicrobial agents for patient management.

Objective: To determine the timing of treatment for the labial inversely impacted maxillary central incisors. Methods: Twenty-eight patients (mean age, 8.2 years) with labial inversely impacted maxillary central incisors were divided into early-treated and later-treated groups according to their dental age. All of the patients were treated with a combination of surgery and orthodontic traction using the Guide rod appliance. Cone-beam computed tomography images were taken immediately after treatment for assessing the root morphology, root length, and alveolar bone loss. Sagittal slices were evaluated at the widest labial-lingual width of the tooth in the axial view. All variables were evaluated by Simplant 13.0 software (Materialise Dental NV, Leuven, Belgium). Results: The rank sum test indicated that the root length of two groups showed a statistically significant difference between the impacted and homonym tooth, with a shorter length in the impacted tooth (P , .05). The D-value (difference of root length between the impacted and homonym tooth) and alveolar bone loss on the labial side of the impacted incisor are significantly less in the early-treated groups when compared with the later-treated groups (P , .05). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed a statistically positive association between the treatment timing and D-value (r 5 .623, P , .05). The chi-square test for morphology of root apex indicated that the incidence of the root-apex-directed labial side is significantly higher in the later-treated groups when compared with the early-treated groups. Conclusion: The labial inversely impacted maxillary central incisors should be treated early to promote root development by achieving a better morphology of root apex, thus reducing the risk of alveolar bone loss on the labial side. (Angle Orthod. 2016;86:768-774.)

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