Standardized assessment of bone micromorphometry around teeth following orthodontic tooth movement: A µCT split-mouth study in mice

PURPOSE: Volumetric quantitative analyses of bone micromorphometry changes following orthodontic tooth movements are hardly standardizable. The present study aimed at validating and applying a novel microcomputed tomography (CT)-based approach that enables the segmentation of teeth and definition of a standardized volume of interest (VOI) around the roots to assess local bone micromorphometry. METHODS: The jaws of 3 untreated and 14 orthodontically treated mice (protraction of the upper right molar for 11 days with 0.5 N; untreated left upper molar) were scanned with a micro-CT. The first molars and the alveolar bone were segmented, and a standardized VOI was defined around the teeth. The bone volume per total volume (BV/TV) was assessed within the VOI, and BV/TV values were compared between contralateral sites in both untreated (method validation) and treated animals (method application). RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.99 revealed high reliability of the method. In the untreated animals, Bland–Altman analysis confirmed comparable BV/TV fractions (mean difference: −1.93, critical difference: 1.91, Wilcoxon: p = 0.03). In the orthodontically treated animals, BV/TV values were significantly lower at the test compared to the control site (test: 33.23% ± 5.74%, control: 41.33% ± 4.91%, Wilcoxon: p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Within the limits of the study, the novel approach demonstrated the applicability to evaluate bone micromorphometry around teeth subjected to orthodontic treatment.