Future of Orthodontics—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Emerging Trends in This Field

Abstract

Technology is rapidly evolving in the modern world, and the accompanying developments due to its influence are shaping each and every aspect of our life, with the field of orthodontics being no exception. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine such trends in orthodontics and hypothesize which ones would emerge and continue in the near future. After a thorough search of online journals using keywords such as “3D printing,” “Aligners,” “Artificial intelligence,” “Future trends,” “Orthodontics,” and “Teleorthodontics” across databases of PubMed-MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Scopus, a total of 634 papers were initially recovered. Technological advancements in 3D printing, Computer-aided design and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), biopolymers and Teleorthodontics were the most important categories of development seen across the 17 studies that we selected for our review. All the investigations selected for this systematic review depicted aspects of orthodontics that were influenced by rapid technological changes and could potentially become mainstream in the coming times. However, caution was sought to be observed in the usage/adoption of some of these trends, with social media usage amongst both patients as well as orthodontists being a prime example of this.

Complications Arising Due to Orthodontic Treatment—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Strong forces led to a rise in root absorption. A significant correlation between root resorption and orthodontic force level was found in several systematic evaluations [25,35,38]. Several studies claim that there is only scant proof to back up this association [35,88,89].…”

“…Root resorption occurs when the cells responsible for breaking down and rebuilding bone, known as osteoclasts and osteoblasts, respectively, become overactive and remove more tooth structure than necessary, leading to shorter roots [32][33][34][35]. Intrusion, retraction, and torque movements are common orthodontic tooth movements that have been investigated regarding their potential to cause root resorption [36][37][38][39][40]. While these movements alone may not increase the risk of root resorption, factors such as the amount of force applied, stress distribution region, and total apical displacement can make them more potent [41][42][43].…”

“…The studies that are available demonstrate that aligners have a reduced risk of root resorption when compared to fixed appliances, despite the fact that there is little research on root resorption associated with aligner applications [31,[38][39][40][69][70][71][72][73][74]. This could be as a result of the intermittent, comparatively light pressures that these appliances employ, which result in less tooth movement and apical displacement.…”

“…However, they can also produce jiggling forces [40,[80][81][82][83]. This is not commonly reported [38], as determining its occurrence is difficult [38,81,[84][85][86][87].…”

Patient’s and Practionner’s Experiences of a First Face-to-Face vs. Remote Orthodontic Consultation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…On the other hand, disadvantages are as follows: danger of fully remote treatment (to be avoided); not all phases of an orthodontic treatment can be carried out remotely; question of confidentiality, security, data protection; possible impoverishment of the human relationship and, therefore, of the quality of the therapeutic alliance; dissatisfaction and/or difficulty of use (patients less at ease with the new technology or find difficulty in the acquisition of intra-oral photos/scans); investment for the practitioner, such as computer equipment, subscriptions to follow-up services, cost of a scan box, etc., and similarly for the patient in some cases; lack of interest/fear; no shortening of treatment time; and a lack of evidence/data investigating all aspects of telemedicine in orthodontics. Moreover, in a recent systematic review and meta-analysis, Alam et al [ 29 ] explored the future of orthodontics. Out of 634 publications from four databases (PubMed-MEDLINE, Web of sciences, Cochrane and Scopus), the authors included 17 articles based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria at the end of process of the study selection.…”