Tissue tolerance to orthodontic banding. A study in carbohydrate metabolism.

Tissue tolerance to orthodontic banding was determined in a group of children in the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Alabama School of Dentistry. Nonfasting blood glucose and three oral parameters--gingival state, clinical tooth mobility and labial debris--were determined before banding a mandibular lateral incisor and again one month later. Each subject received a multivitamin-trace mineral supplement or an indistinguishable placebo during that month. In the placebo group, statistically significant blood glucose variability (variance) was found in those whose periodontal state was made worse by the orthodontic band. However, a very homeostatic pattern of blood glucose values was displayed by those whose gingival state, tooth mobility, and labial debris improved or remained the same in the presence of the band. Thus, blood glucose variability or homeostasis is one possible way to predict or measure the elusive factor that has been called tissue tolerance.