Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of pregnancy on orthodontic tooth movement in Wistar rats.
Material and methods: Forty eight female three-month old Wistar rats with an average weight of 250 ± 25 gr were selected and randomly divided into two experimental (pregnant) and control groups (non-pregnant). Maxillary central incisors were tipped distally by insertion of springs exerting 30 g force. Two, seven and fourteen days after spring insertion animals were sacrificed. Then the mesioincisal distance between maxillary incisors were measured. Subsequently, histological sections were prepared to count osteoclasts under a light microscope. The data on the extent of orthodontic tooth movement, and the number of osteoclasts were analyzed by independent sample t-test.
Results: The results indicated that 2,7 and 14 days after force application there was no significant difference in orthodontic tooth movement between experimental and control groups (p>0.05). The number of osteoclasts were significantly lower in the experimental group 7 and 14 days after spring insertion (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Pregnancy may decrease the amount of tooth movement in the linear phase but it is not statistically significant. The number of osteoclasts is significantly decreased during pregnancy.