Aspartate aminotransferase activity in the pulp of teeth treated for 6 months with fixed orthodontic appliances

OBJECTIVE: To measure aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity in the pulp of teeth treated with fixed appliances for 6 months, and compare it with AST activity measured in untreated teeth. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 16 healthy subjects (mean age 25.7 ± 4.3 years) who required the extraction of maxillary premolars for orthodontic reasons. Of these, 6 individuals had a total of 11 sound teeth extracted without any orthodontic treatment (the control group), and 10 individuals had a total of 20 sound teeth extracted after 6 months of orthodontic alignment (the experimental group). Dental pulp samples were extracted from all control and experimental teeth, and the AST activity exhibited by these samples was determined spectrophotometrically at 20℃. RESULTS: Mean AST values were 25.29 × 10(-5) U/mg (standard deviation [SD] 9.95) in the control group and 27.54 × 10(-5) U/mg (SD 31.81) in the experimental group. The difference between these means was not statistically significantly (p = 0.778), and the distribution of the AST values was also similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: No statistically significant increase in AST activity in the pulp of mechanically loaded teeth was detected after 6 months of orthodontic alignment, as compared to that of teeth extracted from individuals who had not undergone orthodontic treatment. This suggests that time-related regenerative processes occur in the dental pulp.