Traumatic ulcers and pain during orthodontic treatment

In the present investigation the frequency of oral ulcers and pain in 161 orthodontic patients was recorded. Of all patients, 95% had experienced pain, but 84.5% said that the pain lasted a few days only. About 11% maintained that the treatment was constantly painful. Significantly more patients coming from private clinics complained of pain than those attending treatment at the Department of Orthodontics. About 50% said that activating or changing archwire was most annoying, whereas 28.7% said ulceration and 21% said headgear was the most annoying part of the treatment. According to 75% of the patients, sleeping habits were not influenced. Only eight patients reported truancy, and seven of these had done this only once. Of all patients, 6.2% had requested interim visits. Small wounds caused by the fixed appliance were reported by 75.8% of the patients, and 2.5% had suffered badly from ulceration caused by the fixed appliances. More girls than boys reported ulceration. There was a significant sex difference as regards recurrent aphthous ulceration (RAU). Increase in the frequency of RAU was reported by 23.1% of the girls and 9.6% of the boys while they had fixed appliances.