Angular changes in collagen cemental attachment during tooth movement

Abstract

Intrusion and extrusion springs were applied in pairs to mandibular first molars of mice. Treatments were randomly allocated to the right and left sides of the jaw in both normal and lathyritic animal groups. Histologic sections revealed that principal collagen fibres demonstrated extensive changes in their cementum attachment angles when comparing matched intrusion‐extrusion pairs in either normal or lathyritic animals. A mixed model analysis of variance of the angular readings showed a significant difference at the 1 % level in the angle attributed to the type of treatment applied. These data lent support to the hypothesis that collagen fibres and oxytalan fibres undergo opposite and complementary changes during intrusive and extrusive tooth movement.