Genes Associated With Bone Metabolism in the Saliva During Orthodontic Treatment

N/AActive Not RecruitingNCT07303647

Kurdistan Higher Council of Medical Specialties24 enrolled

Overview

Understanding the biological events during fixed orthodontic treatment is essential for optimizing treatment strategies, predicting patient response, and minimizing adverse effects. Most studies on bone remodeling have used invasive sampling methods such as tissue biopsies or serum collection; these methods cannot be used for routine clinical monitoring. Saliva is a simple medium that can reflect changes in local periodontal and bone conditions, it is also non-invasive and cheap. There is little evidence about the temporal expression of genes related to bone metabolism (RANKL, OPG, ALP, TRAP, RUNX2) in saliva during orthodontic therapy. This study will help advance the understanding of biological responses during orthodontic tooth movement and explore whether saliva can be an appropriate diagnostic medium for monitoring bone remodeling in orthodontic patients

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Gene Expression Profiling Orthodentic Appliances

Interventions

PCRDIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Unstimulated whole saliva collection SOP (time of day, fasting, avoid toothbrushing immediately prior). RNA stabilization and extraction (saliva RNA kits). cDNA synthesis and quantitative RT-PCR (or RNA-seq if budget allows). Housekeeping genes for normalization (e.g., GAPDH, ACTB - validate stability in saliva). Analysis method: ΔΔCt → fold change.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 15 YearsMax age: 25 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion criteria: 1.15 to 25 years of age 2.moderate crowding (3-6 mm) 3.generally good health with no systemic conditions that could influence bone metabolism 4. no recent use of medications known to affect bone metabolism (such as bisphosphonates and corticosteroids) or any other NSAIDs. Exclusion criteria: 1. periodontal disease 2. smoking or any form of tobacco use 3. pregnancy or lactation 4. prior orthodontic treatment 5. craniofacial syndromes 6. The use of antibiotics within 3 months before the study. -

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

salivary genes of bone metabolism

Change in salivary gene expression levels of key bone-metabolism genes (e.g., RANKL, OPG, RUNX2, ALPL, BMP2) from baseline (T0) to subsequent timepoints during fixed orthodontic treatment, measured as ΔCt or fold-change (ΔΔCt) using qRT-PCR.

Time frame: 4 weeks