Alcohol Induced Osteopenia Can Cause Accelerated Orthodontic Tooth Movement in Male Wistar Rats

Background and Aim: Considering the effect of alcohol on bones, consuming alcohol may have some consequences on orthodontic tooth movement. The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of alcohol consumption on bone density and orthodontic tooth movement in rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, thirty rats were divided into three groups and underwent 3 weeks of different injection regimen. Group A received no injection while rats in group B and C were infused with saline and a mixture of alcohol and saline respectively. Tooth movement at day 21 was measured by leaf gauge. Optical density was measured using a digital densitometer at the beginning and the end of the experiment around four lateral cephalometric landmarks. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the differences in tooth movement. Changes in bone density were analyzed using paired T-test after evaluation of interactions. Results: Mean tooth movement in group C was (0.4± 0.06 mm) was significantly higher than no injection (0.26 ± 0.04 mm) and saline infusion (0.29 ± 0.04 mm) groups (P=0.001). Significant decrease in bone density were observed in alcohol injected group in skull (P=0.005) and mandible(P=0.004) after three weeks of experiment. Conclusion: Alcohol infusion could induce decreased bone density which might be a reason for faster tooth movement in alcohol-treated rats.