American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial OrthopedicsVolume 142, Issue 4 , Pages 443-450, October 2012
Introduction
The association between dental crowding and
dental caries has long been accepted because of increased food
accumulation and plaque retention in areas of crowding. The aim of this
review was to evaluate this potential causal relationship
systematically.
Methods
Six electronic databases were
accessed, supplemented by manual searching of the references of the
relevant retrieved articles, peer-reviewed orthodontic journals, and
gray literature. Search terms included
caries,
decay,
crowding, and
irregularity.
Non-English articles were excluded from the review in the
study-selection stage. Data extraction and evaluation of primary studies
were performed independently by 2 reviewers.
Results
The
initial search retrieved 6914 citations. However, only 18 articles met
the inclusion criteria. The qualitative systematic review included 8
studies, with articles of low or moderate quality. No association
between crowding and caries was reported in 4 studies, a significant
negative correlation was found in 2 studies, 1 study showed a direct and
significant relationship, and another study showed a positive
association in the mandibular anterior region but an inverse correlation
in the maxillary posterior region.
Conclusions
To date,
there are no high-quality studies to resolve the possible association
between dental crowding and caries; further high-quality longitudinal
studies are needed to clarify this relationship.
Comments