Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Birte Melsen, DDS Dr. Odont. Adjunct Professor, Department of Orthodontics, University of Western Australia. Perth, Australia and Visiting Professor,New York University College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA
Lorri A. Morford, PhD Assistant Professor of Craniofacial Genetics, Division of Orthodontics, Department of Oral Health Science, University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, Lexington, KY, USA
Jeanne M. Nervina, DMD, PhD, Ortho Cert Professor and Program Director, Consortium for Translational Orthodontic Research Academy, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Gustavo Pompermaier Garlet, DDS, PhD Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Sao Paulo University, School of Dentistry, FOB/USP, Bauru, Brazil
Rajesh Ramachandran, MSc Director, Biogenix Research Center, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Ambili Renjithkumar, BDS, MDS, FDS RCS (Glas), PhD Professor, Department of Peridontics, PMS College of Dental Sciences and Research, Thirivananthapuram, Kerala, India
W. Eugene Roberts, Jr., DDS, PhD Professor Emeritus, Department of Orthodontics and Oral Facial Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Raffaele Spena, DDS, MS Adjunct Professor, Department of Orthodontics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy and Private Practice, Naples, Italy
Cristina C. Teixeira, DMD MS, PhD, Ortho Cert Associate Professor, Department of Orthodontics, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA
Vaska Vandevska‐Radunovic, DDS, MSc, Dr. Odont Professor of Orthodontics, Department of Orthodontics, Institute of Clinical Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Carlalberta Verna, DDS, PhD Professor and Head, Department of Pediatric Oral Heath and Orthodontics, University Centre for Dental Medicine UZB, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Jiangyue Wang, DDS PhD Candidate, Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China
Sara H. Windahl, PhD Lecturer, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
Gang Wu, DDS, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Oral Implantology and Prosthetic Dentistry, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Avinoam Yaffe, DMD Professor, Department of Prosthodontics, Hebrew University – Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel
Masaru Yamaguchi, DDS, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Orthodontics, Nihon University School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Chiba, Japan
James J. Zahrowski, DMD, MS, PharmD Diplomate of American Board of Orthodontics, 13372 Newport Avenue, Suite E, Tustin, CA, USA
Margarita Zeichner‐David, PhD Clinical Professor, Division of Biomedical Sciences, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Preface to the First Edition
The first international conference on the biology of tooth movement was held in November 1986 at the University of Connecticut, under the leadership of Louis A. Norton and Charles J. Burstone. In the Foreword to the book that emanated from that conference, Coenraad F.A. Moorrees, to whom the first edition of this book is dedicated, wrote:
Notwithstanding continued progress from numerous histologic and biochemical studies describing tissue behavior after force application, the key question on the biology of tooth movement remains unresolved: namely, how force application evokes molecular response in the cells of the periodontal membrane. Only when this fundamental question in bone physiology is better understood can appliances for optimal tooth movement in orthodontics be achieved.
In the two decades that have passed since that conclusion, scientists worldwide seem to have followed the direction pointed out by Professor Moorrees. Basic research pertaining to the response of tissues and cells to mechanical loading has grown broader and deeper. The emphasis at the end of the first decade of the twenty‐first century is on molecular biology and molecular genetics. Genes are being identified which seem to play important roles in the response of paradental cells and tissues to orthodontic forces, and a growing number of signal molecules that modulate this process have been elucidated. These findings now enable clinicians to utilize some of these molecules as markers of processes associated with tooth movement, such as inflammation and root resorption.
This unrelenting increase of knowledge in basic science has not yet resulted in the development of orthodontic appliances that can be tailored to fit the biological peculiarities of individual patients. But with the growing understanding of the nature of various common diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, arthritis, obesity, and various cardiovascular diseases, it is now possible to assess their potential effects on orthodontic tooth movement, clinically and molecularly. The time seems to be approaching when the nature of optimal orthodontics will be fully exposed as a consequence of the increasing widening of the highway connecting clinical and basic sciences.
The goal of this book is to inform orthodontic students as well as practitioners on the known details of the biological aspects of tooth movement. We hope that this information will enhance their ability to render excellent treatment to all of their patients, young and old. Moreover, we hope that this compendium will convince readers that the dentofacial complex is an integral part of the complete human body, and as such, and like any other region of the body, is prone to be influenced by many factors, genetic or environmental.
Vinod Krishnan Ze’ev Davidovitch Editors
Preface to the Second Edition
Basic biologic research in orthodontics has witnessed rapid growth since the publication of the first edition of Biological Mechanisms of Tooth Movement. This research not only identified biologic factors associated with tooth movement and its iatrogenic reactions but has expanded even deeper into exploration at the molecular and genomic levels, to generate new knowledge that can be used in clinical settings.
The concept of personalized or individualized medicine is rapidly gaining a hold in medicine as may be seen from the global annual conferences on this subject. In medicine, at this time, the focus is on the personal determinants of cancer and diabetes. Efforts to adapt this concept to all of medicine are gaining momentum. Dentistry is no exception, and orthodontics is potentially the pioneer in this regard. Orthodontists have long been customizing their diagnoses and treatment plans according to the physical characteristics of their patients but now we are entering a period when it would be possible to evaluate the biological features of each patient, by measuring specific tissue markers in fluids, such as saliva and gingival crevicular fluid. The task of establishing reliable tests for the identification of the sought‐for markers may not be imminent because of the complexity and variability of the individual genomics but investigations
