A Long Term Assessment of the Clinical Efficacy of the Fiberotomy as it Relates to Rotational Relapse.

This study was undertaken to assess the clinical efficacy of the fiberotomy as it relates to long term rotational stability of dentition. Forty-eight orthodontic patients who had received conventional edgewise orthodontic treatment provided control and experimental samples consisting of 91 non-fiberotomized, orthodontically rotated teeth and 73 fiberotomized, orthodontically rotated teeth. All teeth had been retained for a minimum period of six months following treatment. After a minimum postretention period of two years, assessment of rotational stability was conducted using photocopies of dental casts made at three time periods pretreatment, posttreatment, and postretention. Conclusions derived from this study included 1 fiberotomy will reduce the potential for rotational relaspe probably by inactivating forces developed within displaced gingival fibers 2 there does not appear to be a difference in relapse potential between arches or tooth categories and 3 there does not appear to be a relationship between amount of treatment rotation and precent relapse.