Journal of Dentistry and Oral CareJournal of Dentistry and Oral CareJournal of Dentistry and Oral CareJournal of Dentistry and Oral Care2379-1705Ommega Online PublishersNew Jersey, USA14610.15436/2379-1705.15.002Research ArticleThe Effect of Chewing Gum on the Pain Associated with Initial Placement of Fixed Orthodontic AppliancesThe Effect of Chewing Gum on the Pain Associated with Initial Placement of Fixed Orthodontic AppliancesMueez ShedamDepartment of Orthodontics M A Rangoonwala Dental College and Research Centre Pune Maharashtra India Editor* E-mail: id-moizshedam@gmail.com
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
20150204201511JDOC-15-RA-146/00226022015300320152015Creative Commons Attribution LicenseThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. nbsp Objectives To determine the effect of chewing gum on the pain associated with initial placement of fixed orthodontic appliances Sample population Subjects were selected from the Department of Orthodontics who wanted to undergo fixed orthodontic therapy Subjects and Methods A randomized clinical trial with two parallel groups allocated to receive chewing gum after initial placement of their appliance or who were asked not to use Chewing chewing gum Subjects completed a compliance form and visual analogue scale VAS to assess the intensity of pain at 24hrs and after 1week following placement of the initial working archwire Results Values are Median Minimum ndash Maximum P-value by Mann-Whitney U test Un-paired analysis using non-parametric methodology P-value lt 0 05 is considered to be statistically significant emsp emsp 1 24-Hrs and 7-Days post treatment average pain scores differ significantly in Non-Chewing Study group P-value lt 0 001 emsp emsp 2 The average pain score after 24-Hrs is significantly higher in Non-Chewing Gum group P-value lt 0 001 emsp emsp 3 The average pain score after 7-Days is significantly higher in Non-Chewing Gum group compared to Chewing Gum group P-value lt 0 001 emsp emsp 4 The average change in pain score after 7-Days is significantly higher in Non-Chewing Gum group compared to Chewing Gum group P-value lt 0 001 Conclusion Chewing gum significantly decreased pain from the fixed appliances 10