| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the present study is to compare the pain levels, analgesic consumption, and sleep disturbances associated with Invisalign aligners (Align Technology, Santa Clara, Calif) and traditional fixed appliances at multiple time points.
A prospective, randomized cohort study was conducted that included 41 adult patients who were treated with either traditional fixed appliances (6 males and 12 females) or aligners (11 males and 12 females). Patients completed a daily discomfort initially following bonding or delivery of the aligners, after one month, and after two months. At each occasion, patients were asked to record their analgesic consumption, sleep disturbances, along with their pain at rest, while chewing, while biting on their front teeth, and when biting on their back teeth.
Both treatment modalities demonstrated similar pain values at baseline. There were no significant sex differences. Patients in the traditional fixed appliances group consistently reported higher pain scores than the patients in the Invisalign aligners group. Depending on the question, the treatment group differences were statistically significant (p<0.05) most days during the first week. Aligner patients also reported significantly lower pain than the traditional treated patients after the first and second months. Pain scores after the subsequent adjustments were consistently lower than after the initial bonding or aligner delivery. A higher percentage of patients in the fixed appliances group reported taking analgesics during the first week for dental pain, but only the difference on day 2 was statistically significant.
Aligner treatment is significantly less painful than traditional fixed appliances. Patients treated with aligners consume fewer analgesics than patients treated with traditional appliances. | en |
