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Teens moan about the two to three years spent wearing dental braces, but they appreciate the reward — dazzling smiles. Dr. Dawei Liu wants those smiles to last a lifetime.

Orthodontics applies degrees of mechanical force to correct dental irregularities, which include everything from crooked teeth to jaw skeletal discrepancies. But there is an unfortunate byproduct to most orthodontic treatments; the continuous force used to move a tooth can cause dental roots to shorten over time.

“We can observe radiographically that after two years of orthodontic treatment part of a root is gone, and you can’t regrow it. A tooth with less root will become mobile,” says Liu, assistant professor of orthodontics. “It can’t bear the functional load of chewing. Eventually, because the tooth is not deeply rooted in the bone, you will lose the normal function or the tooth.”

With one-half of the population undergoing orthodontic treatments during their lives, Liu says it is important to anticipate a patient’s susceptibility to root resorption. “If we can predict it, we may be able to prevent it,” he says.

In clinical trials Liu is evaluating the magnitude, frequency and duration of the orthodontic forces that adversely affect dental roots.

“My study deals with the mechanisms of orthodontic tooth movement and its associated root resorption,” he explains. “To see how we can move teeth efficiently, we are applying different forces to solve orthodontic problems.”

He says solutions may lie in applying a lighter and vibrating force on the tooth and releasing the force immediately when root resorption is observed.

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RESEARCH IN BRIEF

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Quick Facts About Marquette

Identity:	Catholic, Jesuit, private
Established:	1881
Location:	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Undergraduate:	8,048
Postgraduate:	3,500
Campus:	Urban, 80 acres
Athletics:	14 NCAA Division I teams (Big East Conference)
Colors:	Blue and Gold

Getting to the root of the problem