Effect of periodontal–orthodontic treatment of teeth with pathological tooth flaring, drifting, and elongation in patients with severe periodontitis: A systematic review with meta‐analysis

AIM: To assess the beneficial and adverse effects on the dental and periodontal issues of periodontal–orthodontic treatment of teeth with pathological tooth flaring, drifting, and elongation in patients with severe periodontitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nine databases were searched in April 2020 for randomized/non‐randomized clinical studies. After duplicate study selection, data extraction, and risk‐of‐bias assessment, random‐effect meta‐analyses of mean differences (MDs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were performed, followed by subgroup/meta‐regression analyses. RESULTS: A total of 30 randomized and non‐randomized clinical studies including 914 patients (29.7% male; mean age 43.4 years) were identified. Orthodontic treatment of pathologically migrated teeth was associated with clinical attachment gain (−0.24 mm; seven studies), pocket probing depth reduction (−0.23 mm; seven studies), marginal bone gain (−0.36 mm; seven studies), and papilla height gain (−1.42 mm; two studies) without considerable adverse effects, while patient sex, gingival phenotype, baseline disease severity, interval between periodontal and orthodontic treatment, and orthodontic treatment duration affected the results. Greater marginal bone level gains were seen by additional circumferential fiberotomy (two studies; MD = –0.98 mm; 95% CI = –1.87 to −0.10 mm; p = .03), but the quality of evidence was low. CONCLUSIONS: Limited evidence of poor quality indicates that orthodontic treatment might be associated with small improvements of periodontal parameters, which do not seem to affect prognosis, but more research is needed.