Pain control in orthodontics using vibration

Pain is a common patient complaint during the orthodontic movement of teeth, especially immediately following archwire placement. Vibration has been used to accelerate the orthodontic movement of teeth and some observations by clinicians have indicated that vibration appeared to reduce the pain of orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this parallel group, randomized clinical trial was to investigate the relationship between a micro pulse vibration device and pain perception during orthodontic treatment. Fifty-eight patients meeting eligibility criteria were assigned using block allocation to one of two groups: an experimental group using the vibration device or the control group (n = 29 for each group). Patients used the device twenty minutes daily. Patients rated pain intensity on a visual analog scale at appropriate intervals during the weeks after the separator or archwire appointment. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance at α=0.05. Over the four month test period significant differences between the micro pulse vibration device group and the control group for overall pain (P =.002) and biting pain (P=.003) were identified. The authors observed that perceived pain was highest at the beginning of the month, following archwire adjustment. The micro pulse vibration device significantly lowered the pain scores for overall pain and biting pain over the four month study period.