SynthesisOral health & preventive dentistry2021
Impact of Aligners and Fixed Appliances on Oral Health during Orthodontic Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Oral health & preventive dentistry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- White spot lesions, plaque accumulation and salivary caries-associated bacteria in clear aligners compared to fixed orthodontic treatment. A systematic review and meta- analysis.BMC oral health · 2023Pooled it
- Periodontal Parameters in Fixed Labial and Lingual Orthodontic Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Oral health & preventive dentistry · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of Different Cleaning Protocols on the Optical and Morphological Properties of 3D-Printed Aligners After In Vitro Aging.European journal of dentistry · 2026Article
- Balancing act: Orthodontic strategies in severe periodontitis - updating clinical practice with evidence-based insights.Medicine · 2026Review
- Improvement of Occlusal Function After Clear Aligner Orthodontics Verified by T-Scan Novus Digital Analysis.Reports (MDPI) · 2026Article
- Review
- Effect of cigarette smoke on surface roughness and bacterial adhesion of orthodontic aligners: an in vitro investigation.Clinical oral investigations · 2026Article
- Immune Responses in Orthodontic Treatment.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Assessment of the Accuracy of Clear Aligner Therapy for Maxillary Expansion: A Prospective Clinical Study.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dentistry · 2026Article
- Impact of orthodontic appliances on patients' daily lives: a comparison between clear aligners and fixed appliances.Dental press journal of orthodontics · 2026Article
- Duration-Dependent Caries Risk During Clear Aligner Therapy: A Retrospective Analysis.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Dynamics of the oral microbiome during orthodontic treatment and antimicrobial advances for orthodontic appliances.iScience · 2024Review
- Changes in the Oral Microbiota with the Use of Aligners vs. Braces: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- In vivo aging-induced surface roughness alterations of InvisalignJournal of orthodontics · 2023Article
- Periodontal health status, oral microbiome, white-spot lesions and oral health related to quality of life-clear aligners versus fixed appliances: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.Korean journal of orthodontics · 2023Article
- Characteristics of oral microbiota and oral health in the patients treated with clear aligners: a prospective study.Clinical oral investigations · 2023Article
- Impact of Clear Aligners on Oral Health and Oral Microbiome During Orthodontic Treatment.International dental journal · 2023Review
- Impact of Clear Aligners versus Fixed Appliances on Periodontal Status of Patients Undergoing Orthodontic Treatment: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Prevalence of Oral PathogenMicroorganisms · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo identify and assess differences in oral hygiene parameters in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with clear aligners compared to fixed appliances. MATERIALS AND
methodsPublished and unpublished literature was searched in seven databases until May 31st 2021. Representative keywords included 'orthodontic aligner', 'fixed appliance', 'oral hygiene', 'plaque index', 'caries'. Study selection, data extraction, risk of bias and certainty of evidence assessment were undertaken independently by three reviewers. Random effects meta-analyses with respective confidence intervals (95% CI) were conducted, where applicable.
resultsA total of 882 unique records were screened, with a final number of 21 articles being eligible for qualitative synthesis, while 4 of those contributed to meta-analyses. Risk of bias was rated within the range of low to high or serious overall, while certainty of evidence was low to very low according to GRADE. For periodontal parameters, adults undergoing aligner orthodontic treatment presented summary plaque scores 0.58 lower than those treated with fixed appliances, within the first 6 to 12 weeks (4 studies: mean difference: -0.58; 95%CI: -0.82, -0.34; p < 0.001; I2 squared: 71.3%), while no evidence of difference was recorded for inflammation indices. Microbiologic parameters such as presence of S. mutans and lactobacilli were more pronounced in patients with fixed appliances for the first 3 to 6 months (synthesised data from 2 studies).
conclusionsIn the short-term after initiation of orthodontic treatment, patients treated with aligners and no additional attachments/adjuncts presented potentially higher levels of oral health overall. However, the evidence is supported by low to very low certainty.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.